^v5 



A GENERAL ACCOUNT 



OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF 



KENTUCKY. 



YEOMAN OFFICE — E. H. PORTER, PUBLIC PRINTER. 




Book _^ii^ 




Ui\ 



CD 



\LTH 






GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKY 

N. S. SHALER, Director. 

A GENKRAL ACCOUNT 



COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, 



PREPARED BY THE 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 



YEOMAN OFFICE — E. H PORTER, PUBLIC PRINTER. 



By transfer 

FEB 11 1910 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



OF THK 



COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY. 



Of 

GEOGRAPHY. 

Position. — The Commonwealth of Kentucky — situated 
between latitude 36^ 30' and 39° 06' north, and longitude 
5° 00' and 12° 38' west, from Washington — includes about 
forty thousand square miles of area, extending for six hundred 
and forty-two and a half miles along the south bank of the 
Ohio River, from its junction with the Mississippi to the 
mouth of the Chatterawah or Big Sandy. This river forms 
the northern, north-western, and north-eastern borders of the 
State. A part of its north-eastern border, one hundred and 
twenty miles, is formed by the Chatterawah River; a south- 
eastern face of about one hundred and thirty miles has a 
natural boundary in the several ranges which receive the 
comnion name of Cumberland Mountains. The southern face 
alone is an arbitrary line of two hundred miles in length. The 
western boundary of about fifty miles is formed by the Missis- 
sippi River. 

A glance at the accompanying map will make it plain that 
the region occupied by this Commonwealth has a position of 
peculiar importance with reference to the great feature-lines 
of the continent. The Mississippi-River system is the key to 
the continent. Those parts which lie beyond its borders are, 
by their limited area or their severe conditions of climate, 
relatively of minor importance. In this system the State of 
Kentucky, all things being considered, occupies a most im- 
portant place. Its western border is only one thousand and 

» 365 



2 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

seventy-five miles* from the mouth of the Mississippi, and its 
eastern boundary is within five hundred miles of the Atlantic 
ports. 

The special features of position to be considered in meas- 
uring the iniportance of this Commonwealth are its central 
place with reference to the Valley of the Mississippi, and the 
advantages it has from its extended contact with the river 
system of that valley. More than any other State in America 
it abounds in rivers. Including the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers, where they bound its borders, the State has within its 
limits rather more than four thousand miles of rivers, which 
are more or less completely navigable. Improvements of 
small cost will give this amount of navigation with complete 
permanency, except for an average of about fifteen days per 
annum, when they are ice-bound. 

GENERAL GEOLOGY. 

Just as the State of Kentucky is geographically but a part 
of the Mississippi Valley, so it is geologically composed of a 
series of rocks which extend far and w4de over the same 
region. On the eastern line, between Cumberland Gap and 
Pound Gap, it is generally in sight of the old crystalline rocks 
of the Blue Ridge, or original axis of the Appalachian Chain, 
and is closely bordered by rocks of the middle Cambrian or 
Potsdam age ; but the lowest exposed rocks of the State are 
those found at a point on the Ohio River, about twenty miles 
above the Licking River, where we come upon Cambrian rocks 
answering to the base of the Trenton period in New^ York, 
and probably to the Bala or Carodoc beds of England. This 
series is about six hundred feet thick, and consists principally of 
the remains of organic life laid down in a continually shallowing 
sea, interrupted by occasional invasions of coarser sediment, 
derived from the northward. At the close of this Cincinnati 
section of the Cambrian, there came the invasion of a heavier, 
sand-flow, probably coming (rom the south-east, that arrested the 
life and formed some thick beds of rock, known in the reports 

* It is 528 miles from Columbus to New Orleans by railroad, and 472 miles to 
Mobile. 
366 



GENERAL GEOLOGY. 3 

of the Kentucky survey as the Cumberland Sandstone. After 
this the floor of the sea was sparingly peopled with life, dur- 
ing the whole of the Clinton and Niagara epochs, when it was 
probably deep water. This deep sunken condition of the ocean 
floor continued in the Devonian time, when this section seems 
to ha'C^e been the seat of a deposition such as is now going on 
beneath the Sargassa Sea of the Atlantic of to-day. The de- 
caying sea-weed and other organic matter made a bed from three 
hundred feet thick along Lake Erie to forty feet thick in South- 
ern Kentucky, averaging about one hundred feet in Kentucky. 
This bed furnishes the rich lubricating oils of the Cumberland 
Valley. After this came again shallow water, and quick succes- 
sive sand-invasions moving from the north, which formed sev- 
eral hundred feet of beds. These beds probably represent but a 
fraction of the time required to form the Black Shale which lies 
below. This part of our section is called the Waverly, and is 
commonly regarded as being more nearly related to the Carbon- 
iferous than to the Devonian series of rocks. After this period 
came a repetition of subsidence, and a cessation of the sand- 
invasions. During this time there was such a development of 
sea-lilies or stemmed Echinoderms, that this time desei'\'es to 
be called the period of crinoids. This accumulation ranges in 
depth from a few feet along the Ohio River to five hundred or 
more feet under the Western Coal-field. It marks a period of 
tolerably deep still water, filled with lime-secreting animals. It 
is probably to the unbroken character of this succession of life, 
and especially to the crinoids with their upright stems, that we 
owe the uniformly massive character of many of the beds of this 
Subcarboniferous Limestone. 

Next in the ascendino- series we come on the coal-bearing 
■rocks. Their deposition was begun by the sudden shallowing 
of the water over this region, bringing the old sea-floor near the 
surface of the water, and subjecting it to alternating invasions 
of sand borne by strong currents, and exposures in low-lying 
flats covered by a dense swamp vegetation. Each of these 
swamp-periods answers to a coal-bed ; each recurring subsi- 
dence, to the deposits of sands and shales that lie between 
'the coals. 

367 



4 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

After the Carboniferous period, we are warranted in believ- 
ino; that this rejjion was but little below the sea, and with this 
change it became essentially subjected to land conditions alone. 
The wear incident to these conditions has swept away a large 
part of the exposed rocks, and reduced the Carboniferous 
series to less than half of its original thickness. 

Near to the present time there came a sudden subsidence 
of this whole region, that brought the low-lying western part 
of the State beneath the level of the sea, and retained it 
there while the Tertiary deposits were being formed out of the 
waste of the higher parts of the Mississippi Valley that still 
remained above the sea* 

The disturbances that have changed the position of the 
rocks in Kentucky have been few and far between, though 
they have materially affected the general structure of the 
State. From the mouth of the Licking south a little west- 
erly, through Monroe County, extends a ridge or axis of ele- 
vation, the beds dipping gently, rarely over ten feet in a 
mile, in either direction away from it. This was in part 
formed during the deposition of the Lower Cambrian, but 
probably was completed at a much later date. This has 
caused the limitation of the Carboniferous beds of this region. 
To it in fact we owe the abundant diversity of the rock out- 
crops within the State, In the south-east corner of Ken- 
tucky there is a region between Straight Creek and Clear 
Creek, tributaries of the Cumberland, and the Virginia border, 
where the Appalachian disturbance has thrown the rocks into 
mountain folds. Here are some fine exposures of the deeper 
rocks brought up by the great faults of the region. 

No glacial traces of the last period are known within the 
State, nor are the indications of the more ancient ice-periods 
at all distinct. This area has probably remained south of all 
those profound disturbances of temperature that have so 
greatly affected more northern regions.! 

* The appended generalized section on second page of cover will give a general 
idea of the successions of the Kentucky rocks. Further facts can be found in the 
Reports of the Survey, for which see hst at the end of this pamphlet. 

t For further information on this subject, see the Biennial Report of N. S. 
Shaler for 1874-5, Kentucky Geological Survey, now in press, 
368 



SURFACE. 5 

Surface. — The whole of Kentucky Hes within the Missis- 
sippi Basin, and within the special division of the Ohio Valley. 
Its principal feature-lines have been given it by the river ex- 
cavations. A small area on the south-east, containing not more 
than four thousand square miles, lies within the disturbed 
region of the Alleghanies, and has a true mountain-folded 
structure. The remainder is essentially a plain or table-land, 
sloping from the south-east towards the north-west, and little 
broken, except by the deep-cutting river excavations. In 
the eastern half this table-land has an averaQ:e height of about 
one thousand feet above the sea; the ridges often reaching 
to fifteen hundred, and the valleys down to seven hundred feet. 
The greatest difference between the bottom of any one excava- 
tion valley and the borders of the divide does not exceed about 
seven hundred feet, and is usually about half this amount. 
Eight degrees west of Washington the countr}^ begins to sink 
down rapidly to the west. The cause of this change will be 
explained in the geological description of the State. Its effect 
is to carry the upper surface of this table-land gradually down- 
wards, until along the Mississippi its average height is not 
more than three hundred feet above the sea, and the average 
difference between the bottoms of the valleys and the tops 
of the ridges is not over fifty feet. This considerable height 
of the State above the sea is of great advantage in securing it 
against fevers, from which it may be said to be practically 
exempt, except in a narrow belt in the extreme western dis- 
trict, near the borders of the swamp regions. 

Although the general surface of the State is that of a table-land 
sloping towards the Ohio River, and consequently towards the 
north-west, it has many subordinate features which should be 
separately described. All that part of its surface indicated as 
Tertiary on the accompanying map is rather imperfectly drained, 
the rivers having low banks, and during the winter and early 
spring being subject to overflow from the floods. The re- 
mainder of the State, saving a strip a few hundred feet wide 
along some of the larger streams, is absolutely free from this 
danger. The remainder of the State, to the east of this line, 
has only the variety which comes from the difference in the 

VOL, II.— 24 369 



6 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

wear of the streams in the rock. The nature of this difference 
will be discussed under the head of geology. It is only 
necessary to say here that the whole of the area described on 
the map as Cambrian is characterized by broad flat-topped 
ridges, with steep-banked rivers between ; the general character 
being that of a much cut up table-land. The part marked as 
Devonian has broad valleys and steep-sided, tower-like hills. 
That marked Subcarboniferous, especially in the region west 
of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, is characterized by having 
all its smaller streams underground, usually only the rivers over 
fifty feet wide at low water having their paths open to the 
sky. All this region wants the small valleys which we are 
accustomed to see in any country, but in their place the sur- 
face is covered by broad, shallow, cup-like depressions or sink- 
holes, in the centre of which is a tube leading down to the 
caverns below. All this region is completely honey-combed 
by caverns one level below the other from the surface to the 
plane of the streams below. In one sense, this set of under- 
ground passages may be regarded as a continuous cavern as 
extensive as the ordinary branches of a stream wdien it flows 
upon the surface. The sink-holes answer to the smallest ex- 
tremities of the branches. Some idea of the magnitude of 
these underground ways may be formed from the fact that the 
Mammoth Cave affords over two hundred miles of chambers 
large enough for the passage of man, while the county in which 
it occurs has over five hundred openings leading far into the 
earth, none being counted where it is not possible to penetrate 
beyond the light of day. 

The Carboniferous formation is characterized by being cut 
into very numerous valleys, mostly rather narrow and with 
steep-sloped, narrow-topped ridges on either side. The relatively 
narrow valleys, and the general absence of any large areas of 
flat land on the top of the ridges, cause this region to have 
less land well fitted for cultivation than any other part of the 
State. Every part of the surface of the State not permanently 
under water may be regarded as fitted by its surface for the 
uses of men, not one thousandth of it being so precipitous as 
to be unfit for cultivation in some fashion. The writer knows 
370 



RIVER SYSTEMS. ^ 

of no equal area in Europe that has as little waste on account 
of its contour. 

RIVER SYSTEMS. 

Reference has been made to the fact that the whole of this 
Commonwealth lies within the basin of the Mississippi, and 
over ninety per cent, of its area within the Ohio Valley, the 
remainder pouring its waters directly into the Mississippi. 
There are, however, a number of large streams which are 
the property of the State; and two, the greatest tributaries 
of the Ohio, gather a part of their waters in the State. 

Big Sandy. — Beginning at the eastern end of the State, 
we have the Big Sandy or Chatterawah River, which sepa- 
rates for forty miles, by its main stem and then by its eastern 
fork, the State of Kentucky from West Virginia. This 
stream is the only river of its size in America all the basin 
of which is in the coal-bearing rocks. It drains a valley of 
about four thousand square miles. Its name of Sandy is de- 
rived from the very large amount of moving sand in the bed, 
coming from the rapid w^ear of the sand rocks which compose 
the beds of all its tributaries. The valley consists of a narrow 
belt of level, arable land bordering the streams, and a great 
extent of hill land of a good quality of soil, but only fit for 
permanent cultivation on the more gradual slopes. The 
greatest value of soil-products in this valley is to be found in 
its timber resources, which will be found specially mentioned 
under the head of timber. It may be said here that the valley 
contains, next to the Upper-Kentucky and the Cumberland 
Valleys, the largest amount of original forest found in any pait 
of the State, and more than any other valley is especially fitted 
for the continued production of timber of varied quality. The 
forests throughout this region readily and rapidly reproduce 
themselves in the same species, after being cut away. The soil 
of this valley is very well fitted for the growth of fruits of all 
kinds. The season is rather later than that of the other river 
basins of the State, and the liability to frosts possibly rather less 
than in the central region. Owing to difficulties of transpor- 
tation, fruits have been as yet but little grown for exportation. 

371 



8 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

The whole of the cereals are produced in the valley. The soil 
is usually of a light sandy nature, with generally enough clay 
to give it a fairly lasting quality. The principal disadvantage 
arises from the steepness of the slope of the hills. 

Mineral Resources. — The coal resources of this valley are, in 
proportion to its total area, greater than any other in the State, 
scarcely an acre of its area but probably has some workable 
coal beneath it. These coals are mostly of the ordinary bitu- 
minous qualities ; some cannel coal occurs therein of workable 
thickness. A full account of these coals, with illustrative sec- 
tions, will be found in the general description of the eastern 
coal-field. Little effort has been made to find iron ores in 
this valley. The dense forests and the softness of the rocks pre- 
vent the occurrence of trustworthy surface indications. In the 
lower part of the valley very important ores have recently been 
discovered, of which the precise areas and character are yet to 
be determined. (See the reports of A. R. Crandall and N. S. 
Shaler for further details.) 

The Little Sandy Valley. — The general character of this 
small valley is much the same as that of the Big Sandy. The 
river is altosfether within the Carboniferous formation. The 
early utilization of the iron ores of this valley has led to a 
knowledge of its mineral resources superior to that yet ob- 
tained for any other equal area in the State. About thirty-five 
feet of workable coals are known in the several beds of the 
valley. (See p. 42.) 

Tygerfs Creek. — Here the coal resources are more deeply 
cut down by the stream, which in good part flows upon the 
Subcarboniferous Limestone. Though wanting some of the 
best coals, it has many of the best iron ores of the State. 
Some beautiful caverns are found along its banks in Carter 
County. The general surface is much as in the valleys before 
described. In its upper part, the Limestone rocks give occa- 
sional areas of more enduring soils than are furnished by the 
Sandstones of the country to the eastward. The timber and 
other soil products are much the same. 

The stream is not navigable, but can easily be made so by 

locks and dams, giving continuous navigation for about forty 

miles along the meanders of the stream. 
372 



RIVER SYSTEMS. 9 

The streams from the mouth of Tygert's Creek to the mouth 
of the Licking or Ncpemiui are all quite small, and drain a 
region of limited mineral resources. Kinniconick Creek gives 
access to a region abounding in admirable Sandstone for build- 
ing purposes, and to some iron ores of undetermined richness, 
but of considerable promise. It can be made navigable at small 
expense. The whole of this valley abounds in excellent oak 
timber. 

The Lickmg. — This stream, the fourth in size of the rivers 
of the State, ranking next to the Big Sandy, passes over all 
the formations found in the State except the Tertiary. From 
its source to near the mouth of Blackwater Creek it runs on 
the Carboniferous rocks. As far as Duck Creek, it is still bor- 
dered by these beds containing excellent coals, both cannel 
and bituminous. On the Subcarboniferous Limestone, which 
crosses the river near Blackwater Creek, is an excellent iron 
ore. On Slate Creek, near Owingsville, is an admirable mass 
of ore, the richest of the State, having at places a depth of 
fifteen feet or more. 

Triplett and Salt-Lick Creeks afford excellent building- 
stones, and the same series -of rocks (the Waverly) furnish 
some stones which give great promise for lithographic pur- 
poses. 

From the mouth of Fox Creek to the end of the river the 
stream is entirely in the lower Blue Limestone or Upper Cam- 
brian rocks, which afford excellent building-stones, but no other 
marketable underground products. 

The soil of the valley varies greatly, — light sandy loam in 
the Carboniferous and Waverly series ; rather wet clays on the 
Black Shale and Silurian; rich, loamy clays giving soils of the 
first quality over the lower or Cambrian half of the stream. 

The Blue Limestone lands of the counties drained by the 
North Fork are noted for their large yield of a tobacco highly 
prized by the manufacturers of "fine cut," and well known 
in the markets under the name of " Mason County tobacco." 

The Ke7itucky. — Sixty miles below the Licking, the Ken- 
tucky discharges into the Ohio. This stream is the second 
of the Kentucky streams in volume, and the first in length. 

2 ol6 



lO 



GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 



Its head-waters, from Sturgeon Creek east, lie altogether with 
the coal-bearing rocks. At least four hundred miles of water- 
front, open to vessels able to carry three hundred tons of coal, 
can be made on the three forks of this river. The coal holds 
along the hill-sides as far as Station-Camp Creek. The upper 
half of the Red-River branch contains also an abundance 
of coal. The entire drainage of the Kentucky River, above 
its forks in Lee County, is in the Carboniferous rocks. No 
portion of the State exceeds the Upper Kentucky region in 
number, thickness, or quality of coals. A preliminary section, 
made by Mr. P. N. Moore, of the Kentucky Geological Survey, 
from Red River in Wolfe County to the mouth of Trouble- 
some Creek in Breathitt County, establishes the fact that up 
to the latter point there are at least five workable coal-seams 
above the Conglomerate Sandstone. The following analyses, . 
from carefully averaged samples, will show the excellent qual- 
ity of these coals : — 





No. I. 


No. 2. 


No. 3. 


No. 4. 


No. 5. 


Specific Gravity 


1.300. 


1.294 


1.297 


1.290 


1.289 


Moisture 

Volatile Combustible Matter . 

Fixed Carbon 

Ash 


2.50 
41.10 
49.22 

7.18 


3-SO 
35.20 
56.70 

4.60 


3-56 
33-56 
58.38 

4.50 


2.76 
36.60 
56.50 

4.06 


2.10 
36.20 
58.20 

3-50 


Coke 


56.40 
0.818 


61.30 
1. 189 


62.88 
1-381 


60.56 
0.865 


61.70 
0.836 


Sulphur 



No. I is a coal from Frozen Creek, Breathitt County. 
No. 2 is a coal 5' 7" thick, from Devil Creek, Wolfe County. 
No. 3 is a coal from Spencer's Bank, Breathitt County. 
No. 4 is a coal 6' thick, from Wolfe Creek, Breathitt County. 
No. 5, from near Hazard, Perry County. 

Analyses by Dr. Robert Pet6r and Mr. Jno. H. Talbutt, chemists for the 
Kentucky Geological Survey. 

The cannel coal of the Upper Kentucky is to be found over 
an extensive area, and is of a remarkably good quality, as will 
be seen from the following analyses by the chemists of the sur- 
vey, made from average samples : — 

374 



RIVER SYSTEMS. 






II 




No. I. 


No. 2. 


No. 3. 


No. 4. 


No. 5. 


Specific Gravity 


1.280 


1.265 


1.280 


1. 180 


• • • 


Moisture 

Volatile Combustible Matter . 

Fixed Carbon 

Ash 


0.94 
52.38 

35-54 
II. 14 


1.30 
47.00 
44.40 

7-30 


3-40 
34-40 
46.96 

6.24 


1.20 
58.80 
35-30 

4.70 


1.20 
40.86 
46.44 

9.50 




Coke 


46.68 
1.423 


51.70 
1-574 


53.20 
0.630 


40.00 
not est. 


57-94 
0.634 


Sulphur 



No. I. Georges' Branch Cannel Coal, Breathitt County. 
No. 2. Haddock's Cannel Coal, mouth of Troublesome Creek, Breathitt 
County. 

No. 3. Robert's Coal, Perry County. 
No. 4. Frozen Creek, Breathitt County. 
No. 5. Salt Creek, Perry County. 

Three of the best gas-coals in Scotland and England are : 
(No. i), Lesmahago Cannel ; (No. 2), Ramsay's Newcastle 
Coal ; (No. 3), Weym's Cannel Coal. Compare with the 
above the following analyses,. taken from Dr. Peter's Report, 
Vol. II. First Series Kentucky Geological Survey: — 





No. I. 


No. 2. 


No. 3. 


Specific Gravity 


1.228 


1.29 


1-1831 


Volatile Matter 

Fixed Carbon 

Ash 


49.6 

41-3 
9.1 


36.8 

56.6 

6.6 


58.52 
25.28 
14.25 




100. 


1 00.0 


98.45 



Sulphur not determined. 

The indications are that the coal-measures thicken, and the 
number of workable coals increase south-easterly from th^ 
mouth of Troublesome Creek. This, however, can only be 
determined by detailed survey. 

In addition to the numerous workable coals above the Con- 

375 



12 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

glomerate Sandstone in this region, there are two workable 
coals below the Conglomerate. The excellent quality of these 
coals can be seen from the analysis, No. 1601, p. 81. 

Just below the coal the Carboniferous Limestone bears upon 
its top the ore known as the Red-River iron ore, which has 
long furnished a very celebrated cold-blast charcoal iron, well 
known as Red River car-wheel iron. There is probably about 
one hundred miles of outcrop of this ore within a short dis- 
tance of the tributaries of the river, and within twenty miles 
of the main stream. Salt, fire-clay, and hydraulic cement 
abound in the Black Shale and Upper Silurian rocks. From 
Burning Creek to the mouth the Kentucky Valley runs 
entirely within the Upper Cambrian or Blue Limestone. 

The soils in this valley have the same character as in the 
Licking, ranging from the light loamy s(!)ils of the Carbonifer- 
ous, through the clays of the Silurian and Devonian to the 
exceedingly rich blue-grass soils of the Cambrian and Cincin- 
nati Limestone rocks. The navigation of the Kentucky River 
has been improved by locks and dams as far up as a point 
about twenty-five miles above Frankfort. The stream is 
admirably adapted for the extension of this method of naviga- 
tion, until over six hundred miles of navigable water is secured. 
As in the case of the Licking and the Green, it has the pecu- 
liar advantage of having a very great variety of soil and 
natural products within a narrow comjDass. 

The timber resources of the part of this valley that lies 
within the coal-bearing area are very great ; all the important 
timber trees of Kentucky, except the cypress, are found within 
the valley. The black walnut is found in abundance on the 
hill-sides throughout this section, the finer qualities of oak, 
much yellow pine, some white pine, &c. 

Salt River. — This stream is the only considerable river in 
the State that has little in the way of mineral resources. It 
will be seen that it follows the line of the outcrop of the Sub- 
carboniferous Limestone throughout its whole extension, being 
the only river in the State that does not run across the general 
trend of the stratification. The valley abounds in good Lime- 
stone for building purposes, the whole of the Subcarboniferous 
376 



RIVER SYSTEMS. 13 

Limestone being exposed along its banks. The underlying 
Sandstones of the Waverly also furnish excellent building 
materials. Iron ores occur in the Waverly Shales, and perhaps 
also in the Subcarboniferous. The salt-bearing rocks of the 
lower Waverly and the Black Shale are doubtless accessible 
from the line of the surface of the valley. The flow of water 
is rather more steady than in the other rivers to the east- 
ward, on account of the cavernous nature of the rocks along 
its banks. It will, therefore, furnish excellent water-powers 
alono: its whole course. 

The soil of this valley is of pretty even excellence through- 
out. The head-waters drain a region of Blue or Cambrian 
Limestone, and the main stream takes the soils of the 
Waverly which are rather sandy, and the Carboniferous Lime- 
stone which affords very good soil. 

The river has a more than usually rapid fall, descending 
about six hundred feet in its course of about one hundred 
miles from the head-waters, — probably the most rapid fall of 
any stream of its size in Kentucky. This will make the 
improvement of the stream more difficult than of other rivers 
of the State. 

The Green. — This, on many accounts the finest of the 
rivers that have their whole course within the State, differs in 
many striking regards from the other streams. It is at its 
lowest stage about one-third larger than the Kentucky. The 
Kentucky and Licking streams have their mineral belts at 
their head-waters, while the lower part of their course lies in 
districts having their greatest value in their agricultural 
resources. The Green, however, has its lower half within the 
western coal-field, and its upper waters in the older rocks. 
This western coal-field is described in another section of this 
pamphlet, to which the reader is referred for details. In a 
general way it may be said that it is exceeding rich in coals 
of varied quality, and abounds in iron ores of high grade. 
Muddy River, Bear Creek, and Nolin, are peculiarly rich in iron 
ores, the district between Bear Creek and Nolin being one of 
the richest in America in the ores of the Carboniferous period. 

Soils. — The soils of this valley have throughout a high order 

■* 377 



14 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

of merit when they lie on the Subcarboniferous Limestone. 
They are clay loams with a perfect underground cavern drain- 
age, excellent for all grains and for fruits. The coal-bearing 
rocks give soils of a much higher quality than is usual in such 
formations, nearly the whole of the area occupied by these 
rocks giving good grain crops and tobacco of a high quality 
and of a large yield to the acre. 

The whole of this valley is peculiarly fitted for furnishing 
water-power. Rough Creek, Pond River, Muddy River, Bear 
Creek, Nolin River, Big Barren River and its tributaries, 
and all the other streams heading in the Subcarboniferous 
or lower Limestone are singularly steady in their flow, owing 
to their underground reservoirs . of water. To these under- 
ground sources they owe as well their comparative immunity 
from freezing, the Green rarely freezing in the winter season. 
The whole of this valley is singularly well fitted for fruit 
culture, on account of its immunity from winter killing and 
destructive spring frosts, and its neighborhood to Chicago, 
Cincinnati, Louisville, and other great markets. 

Nearly the whole of this valley abounds in excellent timber, 
principally hard -wood. The upper waters have large quan- 
tities of valuable cedar timber ; the Carboniferous district 
abounds with the several species of oak, great quantities of 
valuable hickories, walnut, tulip-tree (or poplar), some holly of 
large size, sometimes over fifteen inches in diameter. There 
is also a good deal of hemlock along the cliff borders of the 
streams, and some cypress in the lower swamps in the Pond 
River district. 

Tradewater River. — This stream bears about the same 

relation to the western mineral field that the Little Sandy 

does to the eastern coal-field. Excepting a few of the less 

important head-waters, the whole of its basin lies within the 

coal-bearing rocks. Its soil is very fertile and well fitted for 

the growth of cereals and tobacco. An abundant growth of 

hard-wood timber of varied species compose its forests ; for its 

area it is one of the richest fields for the oaks, hickory, poplar, 

that exists within the State. 

The coals accessible in this valley are, in part, only above 
378 



RIVER SYSTEMS. 15 

the drainage level They represent some of the best coals in 
the western district. Iron ores exist in abundance, but have 
never been worked. 

The Cumberland. — This river has the upper half and lower 
sixth of its course within Kentucky. The upper region lies 
within the coal-field and traverses some of its richest sections. 
The part above Cumberland Ford is in a great mountain 
valley between Cumberland Mountain and Pine Mountain. 
This valley is about twelve miles wide, and is a fertile region 
aboundino: in excellent timber, with the land, so far as arable 
on account of its steepness, of excellent quality. About one- 
third of the surface is fit for culture with the plow. Below 
Cumberland Ford the river bottom widens, and the mountains 
sink down. The land along the river is very rich indeed, and 
that back on the hills is of good quality. At about two hun- 
dred miles from its source, the stream cuts down into the lower 
rocks, and from near the Kentucky line throughout most of its 
current in Tennessee runs on the Upper Cambrian or Blue 
Limestone formation ; when it reenters Kentucky it is back to 
the rocks of the Subcarboniferous age, and the valley is an 
exceedingly fertile district. The line of this valley brings its 
southern edge near to the Tertiary formation of the western 
part of the State. Its proximity to the Tennessee on the west 
and to the Green on the east narrows the valley to small size ; 
all the tributaries on the lower waters are small, but the up- 
per confluents of this stream contain some of the finest rivers 
of the State. Martin's Fork, Clear Creek, Straight Creek, 
Rockcastle River, and Big South Fork are all considerable 
rivers, and afford excellent water-powers. They are all streams 
of great steadiness of flow, and all the conditions are favorable 
to the formation of valuable water-powers. They all traverse 
regions of very great resources in the way of iron and timber, 
and have soils of fair quality. 

It is probable that no other valley in the West possesses 
so great a body of valuable timber as the Cumberland and its^ 
tributaries. Poplar, the several varieties of oak, beech, maple, 
sweet and sour gum, walnut, and other deciduous trees 
abound. Red cedar, 3^ellow and white pine, are found in 
certain districts in considerable quantities. 379 



I 6 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

The Cumberland is nearl}' equal to the Kentucky in the 
area and richness of its mineral districts. The coal section in 
the valley between Pine Mountain and the Cumberland Moun- 
tains has a depth of two thousand feet, and about twenty dis- 
tinct beds of coal * of which half-a-dozen are workable. The 
iron ores have not been examined or sought for. They may 
be expected to occur at several points in the coal-bearing 
rocks and on the top of the Subcarboniferous Limestone. 
The rich Clinton ores of the Cumberland-gap district,! though 
not in the drainage area of the Cumberland River, are in 
necessary commercial relations with it, inasmuch as they must 
be smelted by the charcoal and stone-coal of this valley. It is 
also most probable that these same ores are accessible along 
the hundred miles of the Pine-Mountain fault, by means of 
adits or galleries above the drainage, or by shafts of shallow 
depth. Detailed reports concerning this region may be ex- 
pected in the fifth and eighth volumes of the Reports of the 
Survey. Beneath a large part of the upper Cumberland 
region the formation, commonly called the " Black " or 
" Devonian " Shale, is filled with a lubricating oil of great value. 
Experience has shown that these wells are practically inex- 
haustible, and that the oil is of a very superior quality, espe- 
cially fitted for use in high latitudes, where other oils congeal. 
From one of these wells on Otter Creek, in Wayne County 
(see map), the oil is exported by wagon to Cumberland City, 
thence by rail to the river, thence by a precarious navigation 
to Nashville ; even with these hindrances the business is 

* Analysis of an average sample taken from a coal-bank forty-four inches 
thick, on Yellow Creek, Bell County : — 

Specific gravity 1.282 

Moisture 1.36 

Volatile combustible matter 3S-8o 

Fixed Carbon 59-54 

Ash 3.30 

Coke ...» 62.84 

Sulphur 0-975 

t See Report of P. N. Moore, in fourth volume, and the Biennial Report of 
N. S. Shaler, third volume, in second series. 
380 



RIVER SYSTEMS. 17 

found to be profitable. With effective transportation a very 
large industry could be founded on this product ; for, unlike 
the light burning oils, those heavy lubricating petroleums are 
of rare occurrence, and find a market that is scarce supplied 
by the present production. 

This river is navigable for steamboats for a part of the year 
as far as the crossing of the Cincinnati Southern Railway. 
The great falls offer an obstacle to improvement of navigation 
into the upper waters, but not an insuperable barrier. Except 
this fall and the rapids immediately above it, the stream offers 
great facilities for improvement; it would be possible to make 
at least four hundred miles of slack-water navigation within 
the mineral belt on the upper waters of this stream. 

The Tennessee. — This river debouches into the Ohio, withiii 
Kentucky, and has the last sixty miles of its magnificent course 
within the State. This part of the valley is among the lowest 
lands of the State ; on the east side the river is bordered by the 
Subcarboniferous Limestone, rich in iron ores ; on the other, 
it extends into the low Tertiary lands which reach to the Mis- 
sissippi River. The land along this stream is very fertile. 

The limitations of this brief sketch make it impossible to 

speak of many lesser streams of great economic importance, 

some of them capable of being made navigable by simple 

canalization. Nor has reference been made to the resources 

of the main Ohio. The mineral resources available in 

this valley are only in part derived from Kentucky, so they 

will not be discussed here. The alluvial soils within the 

valley of the Ohio are of a high order of fertility throughout 

its course. From the mouth of the Chatterawah, or Big Sandy, 

downwards to the mouth, the valley is distinctly bounded by 

cliffs, which gradually diminish from about six hundred feet to 

less than thirty feet near its mouth ; no part of alluvial plains 

have any distinct swamp character until we come below the 

mouth of the Tennessee, though they, in part, are liable to 

winter overflows. This strip of arable land on either side oi 

the stream widens from an average of about one-half of a mile 

near the Big Sandy to about one and a half miles near the 

mouth of the Tennessee. Its fertility becomes the greater 

the further it is removed to the west. 

, 381 



1 8 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 



WATER-POWERS. 

The very numerous rivers of the State supply a large 
number of water-powers of great value. Although the soils 
want the retentive power which belongs to regions where 
they were formed by the glacial period, and extensive lakes 
are wanting, owing to the absence of the action of the same 
agent in this region, yet the freedom from closure by ice, and 
the excellent character of the foundations for dams and mills, 
goes far to balance the advantages. It is impossible to con- 
sider these mill powers in detail. The following points may 
be noted : — 

The main Ohio at the falls at Louisville offers a very great 
but unused water-power ; the flow at the lowest stage of 
water exceeds that of any water-power used in this country. A 
very valuable power exists at Cumberland Falls, in Pulaski 
County, where a stream as large as the one named falls about 
sixty feet. This point is near the Cincinnati Southern 
Railroad. The various slack-water dams now building and to 
be built in the State all afford admirable water-powers where 
the power itself and the transportation of the manufactured 
products are both well assured. As a general rule, the other 
water-powers are best where the waters drain from the Sub- 
carboniferous Limestone ; next in order of merit when their 
supply is from rocks of the Waverly or Subcarboniferous Sand- 
stones. Next in value are the streams in the Blue Limestones, 
or Upper Cambrian ; and, least of all, the streams from the 
coal-bearing rocks, which are generally largely composed of 
dense Sandstones and impervious Shales, having little in the 
way of water-storage spaces. The deficiency in the storage 
of water in the soil can be easily remedied by use of storage 
reservoirs, which, from the depth of the upper valleys and the 
generally good foundations, can be readily made. 

SOILS AND AGRICULTURE. 

All the Kentucky soils except the strip of alluvial land 
along the banks of the rivers have been derived from the 
decay of the underlying rocks. They may be called soils of 
382 



SOILS. 19 

immediate derivation, as distinguished from the soils made up 
of materials that have been borne from a distance by water, or 
which deserve the name of soils of remote derivation. This 
feature of immediate derivation gives the Kentucky soils a 
more local character dependent on position than those of any 
State north of the Ohio. In that region the intermingling of 
materials due to the last ice period has reduced the soils to a 
more nearly equal character. Beginning with the lowest rocks, 
the soils of the Blue or Cambrian Limestone are those of the 
first quality, and are surpassed by no soils in any country for 
fertility and endurance. These soils are derived from a Lime- 
stone very rich in organic remains, which decays with great ra^ 
pidity, and continually furnishes its debris to the deeper-going 
roots. This soil varies considerably in different districts, and at 
some few points, where the underlying rocks are locally rather 
sandy, it falls from its usual high quality. The best soil may be 
known by the growth of blue ash, large black locust, and black 
walnut. Many other trees are found in its forests, but these are 
characteristic, and are never found together save on best soils. 

The most advantageous crops on this soil are grass, it being 
a natural grass land, all the grain crops, and on the richer parts 
hemp. Fruits of all kinds belonging in this climate do quite 
well on this soil. The steep slopes along the valleys are well 
suited for grape culture. . The peculiar features of the soil are 
its endurance under culture. This region having been the 
first settled in the State, the extraordinary capacity of this 
soil for withstanding bad methods of farming led to the gen- 
eral opinion that soils of less inexhaustible properties were not 
worthy of notice ; hence the comparative neglect of the soils 
of the lower rocks, which, though generally fertile, can be 
wasted by careless agriculture far more easily than those of 
the blue-grass region. 

The soils of the Silurian (commonly called Upper Silurian 
Limestone) are much less fertile than those of the underlying 
rocks. When not too cherty, they make good grain and grass 
lands. There is generally such a mixture of the decayed mat- 
ter of the underlying and overlying rocks that this thin forma- 
tion, which does not exceed about one hundred feet thick, gives 

383 



20 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

but little soil which can properly be called its own. As this 
formation ranges from forty to one hundred feet thick in the 
outcrop, there is only a small area, not exceeding eight hun- 
dred square miles, occupied by these soils. 

The soils of the Black or Devonian Shale have even less im- 
portance than those of the formation last mentioned ; not over 
four hundred miles of the area of the State is covered by 
them. When found, they are generally a tough clay which 
only needs drainage to have very valuable qualities. 

The Waverly or Subcarboniferous Sandstone has a thick- 
ness of several hundred feet, and furnishes an area of about 
five thousand square miles. Its soils are generally light clay 
loams, becoming more sandy as we go towards the north-east. 
They are throughout excellent fruit-soils, and yield fair crops 
of all the grains. 

Next higher in the geological succession we find the Sub- 
carboniferous Limestone, or Cavern Limestone, as it is com- 
monly called. This rock makes a larger area of soil than 
any other formation except the coal-measures and the Blue 
Limestone (Cambrian), and may slightly exceed the latter in 
area. These soils are generally excellent enduring soils, rank- 
ing hext to the best of the Blue Limestone soils. They are 
excellent grain and fruit lands, and in the western region are 
well suited for tobacco. Their drainage is generally excel- 
lent, on account of the cavernous character of the Limestone 
beneath. 

The soils of the Carboniferous belt occup)^ by far the largest 
single area in the State, covering not far from fourteen thou- 
sand miles of surface. The soils in it are exceedingly variable 
in character, but are generally a sandy loam. On the con- 
glomerate or lowermost part of the coal-measures, the soils 
are usually the poorest, — about the only really infertile soils 
of the State being the small strips of the soils formed on 
this rock. 

These strips are usually very narrow, and do not include alto- 
gether more than three Tiundred or four hundred square miles. 
The remainder of the Carboniferous area is composed of fairly 
fertile light lands, interspersed with areas of great fertility. 
384 



CLIMATE. 2 1 

Some of the best lands of the State are upon the summits 
of the Carboniferous mountains of Eastern Kentucky; it is 
safe to say that, wherever the shape of the surface admits of 
cultivation, the Carboniferous rocks of Kentucky furnish fair 
soils adapted to a varied range of crops. The considerable 
part of its surface that is not fit for agriculture is admirably 
suited for the production of hard-wood timber of the most val- 
uable varieties, and will doubtless have in this fitness a source 
of wealth scarcely less than tillage of the best lands could give. 

As a whole, the surface of Kentucky includes a larger area 
of very fertile land and a less area of barren soil than any 
other equal area in a State so rich in mineral wealth. The 
prize of wealth hidden beneath the earth is generally bought 
by conditions that do not favor agriculture; but, despite -the 
fact that Kentucky has resources of coal and iron that ex- 
ceed those of Great Britain, she has scarcely a square mile, 
of surface that cannot give a constant return from its soil. 

The production of these soils includes the whole of the crops 
of the Mississippi Valley, except the sugar-cane. Indian corn, 
wheat, oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, flax, flourish over its whole 
surface. Sorghum, for making molasses and sugar, is grown 
over its whole area. The conditions favor the making of sugar 
from beet-roots. All the ordinary fruits attain their perfection 
here. Cotton is raised as a crop in the south-western region 
of the State. Tobacco is more extensively cultivated here 
than in any other State in the Union. The best natural grass 
lands of the continent are found in the Cambrian or Blue 
Limestone district. Hemp is extensively grown in the sanie 
area. The blooded horses of the State are perhaps the most' 
famous of its exports. Its remarkable superiority in this regard 
is doubtless in part due to the care given thereto, but, in the 
opinion of the best judges, is in the main the result of the 
peculiarly favorable effects of a combination of conditions in 
which soil, climate, and water all have their place. Horned 
cattle and sheep also do well here. 

Climate. — That this State is peculiarly well fitted for the 

European races is shown by the fact that in no region is there 

a greater degree of physical vigor than in the population 
VOL. II.— 25 ^§5 



22 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY, 

within its limits. The statistics of the United States Sanitary 
Commission distinctly show that this is the largest-bodied 
native population in this country or Europe, as in the table 
on the opposite page. 

The climatic conditions, as far as they can be described here, 
are as follows : * The average temperature is about 50° Fahr. 
As in all America, the range of temperature throughout the 
year is considerable ; it is, however, much less in Kentucky 
than in the States further to the north. It is rare to have the 
thermometer below the zero of Fahrenheit, and it never hap- 
pens that it remains for twenty-four hours below that point 
The summers, though warm, are less oppressive than along the 
lowlands near New York for instance, owing to the consider- 
able elevation above the sea and the relative dryness of the ain 
The summer heats do not at all interfere with the labor of 
northern-born people in the oj^en sun. There is much experi- 
ence to show that in this respect the climate is not more trying 
than that of New York State. Open-air work is generally 
possible during the whole winter, the ground rarely being 
so frozen as to impede construction-work or even ploughing. 
Cattle are not generally fed more than three to four months, 
and are often left in the pasture for the whole winter. 

The rainfall is about forty-five inches per annum along the 
Ohio River, increasing towards the south-east to about sixty 
inches at Cumberland Gap. This is distributed with fair reg- 
ularity throughout the year, — the summer droughts not being 
suflficient at any time to destroy crops well planted on well 
ploughed ground, and rarely sufficient in any way to embarrass 

* The following, compiled from the United States Census Reports for 1870, 
shows the healthfulness of Kentucky : — 

In population, Kentucky ranked as the eighth State in the Union. 
In percentage of deaths to population, Kentucky ranked as the twenty-eighth 
State ; that is, there were twenty-seven States having a greater death rate than 
Kentucky. 

Population, in 1870, 1,321,011. Deaths, from all causes, 14.345, — or 1.09 per 
cent, of the population. The health of the State has increased, since 1850, as 
follows : — 

Death to population was, in 1850, 1.53 per cent. 
" " " " " i860, 1.42 " " 

" » " " " 1870, 1.09 " " 

386 



CLIMATE. 



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387 



24 



GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 



agriculture. The number of days of sunshine is relatively 
very large, considering the amount of rainfall. 



MEAN TEMPERATURE. 




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36.7 


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64. 


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77.2 


79- 


6.67 


57-3 


1871-72. 
Louisville . . 


60.5 


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38.0 


30.8 


36.0 


38.7 


59. 1 


67.6 


74-3 


79.0 


7S.2 


69.8 


56.3 


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Lexington 
Louisville. . 


56.6 


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39-5 


27.9 
29.4 


30.4 
31.1 


35-6 
36.8 


40.9 
43-3 


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54.6 


64.7 
67. 


73-7 
78. 


76.5 
79- 


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78. 


66.8 
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55-23 


1873-74. 
Lexington 
Louisville. . 


53-8 

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39-6 
38.7 


36.S 
37-5 


39- s 
39- S 


44-3 
45-6 


46.9 
48.8 


63.6 

68.2 


77-9 
80.7 


77-8 
80.7 


75-1 
79-3 


70.9 
72.2 


55-5 
57-2 










RAIN-FALL. - 


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1S70-71. 
Louisville . . 


3-89 


2.40 


2.20 


3.05 


$•74 


7.29 


20.6 


S-97 


3.86 


2.22 


3.06 


1.23 


42.95 


.871-72. 
Louisville . . 


1.85 


2-5' 


3-29 


(*) 


(*) 


1.41 


8.40 


4.49 


6.19 


3.67 


2-45 


4.41 


38.67 t 


1872-73. 
Le.\nigton 
Louisville . . 


3-92 


1. 21 
0.56 


3-53 
2.58 


2.53 
2.93 


405 
5-42 


3-73 
3-39 


2.88 
30s 


6.05 
5-73 


4-54 
3.87 


3-37 
.3-43 


2.94 
304 


1.60 
2.56 


40.42 


1.873-74. 
Lexington 
Louisville. . 


5-47 
3-26 


2.09 
2.19 


4.41 
6.99 


5-41 
2.39 


4.89 
5.18 


S.90 
6.63 


6.81 
6.01 


0.79 
1.17 


3-55 
2-95 


6.26 
2.71 


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3-23 


2.89 
0.62 


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43-33 




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The healthfulness of this region is not exceeded by any 
State in this country. Epidemic diseases have never been 
destructive outside of some of the towns. The experience of 
the city of Lexington has shown that even in the towns such 
diseases are curable by the use of pure drinking-water. Mias- 
matic diseases are not known on the table-lands, being limited 
to the low regions near the large rivers; at least seven-eighths 
of the State enjoy an absolute immunity from such diseases. 
Consumption is rare, compared with the northern and eastern 
States. Yellow fever never occurs. This region is remarka- 
ble for the number of persons in extreme old age, who retain 
their faculties quite unimpaired and a large share of bodily 

vigor. The writer, who has made this subject of longevity a 
388 



SCENERY. 25 

matter of much inquiry, is satisfied that the region from the Big 
Sandy to the Cumberland, especially the higher parts of the 
table-land, and where Limestone soil is found, is peculiarly 
fitted by its conditions to retain the vigor of the body to an 
extreme old age, deserving, in this regard, to rank with the 
Canton de Vaud in Switzerland and the few other favored 
spots where longevity is a characteristic of the people. He 
is also satisfied that the proportion of bodily deformities and 
diseases of imperfect development, — such as curvature of the 
spine, rickets, &c., — is smaller within this area than among 
any equally large native population in this country or in Eu- 
rope. Of the whole population of whites and blacks, about 
eleven hundred thousand of the former and three hundred 
thousand of the latter have been on the soil for three genera- 
tions (these numbers are approximate). It needs only inspec- 
tion to show that there has been no degeneration during this 
time, and that the world-wide reputation for vigor which the 
State has acquired is not likely to be lessened in the time to 
come. 

Natural Beauties of Scenery . — In all those features of natural 
beauty which go to lend attractiveness to a fertile region, this 
State is much favored. Above any other State it is rich in 
rivers, and these have an incomparable variety of loveliness. 
Their head-waters lie around the stately mountains of the 
Cumberland range, their middle distances course through 
gorges often cut into deep canons, and their lower waters 
verge gently into the great valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi. 
The valley of the Upper Cumberland lies in a broad moun- 
tain trough, affording some of the finest scenery of the whole 
Appalachian chain. Big South Fork of the Cumberland, Rock- 
castle River, Red River, of the Kentucky the whole of the 
Upper Kentucky, Tygert's Creek, the upper part of the Big 
Sandy, — all present that mingling of clear stream, steep cliff, 
and beautiful vegetation, which is the great charm of a moun- 
tain country. The cafion of the Kentucky, between Frank- 
fort and Boonesburg, is perhaps the most charming scenery 
of its kind in the region east of the Mississippi. The deep 
gorges of Green River and its tributaries, Nolin and Barren 

4 389 



26 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

Rivers, abound in exquisite scenery ; cliffs, in the semblance 
of castles, towering hundreds of feet above the streams, their 
faces pierced by caverns, and hung with a foliage of almost 
tropical luxuriance. 

The cultivated district of Central Kentucky, commonly 
known as the Blue-grass District, is perhaps for its area the 
most beautiful rural district in America. The surface is un- 
dulating ; large areas of the original forests have been cleared 
of their undergrowth and produce a fine close sod, and in 
these wood-pastures are some of the finest flocks and herds 
in the world. It has happened to the writer to pass on sev- 
eral occasions from this region to the richest lands of Middle 
England, or vice versa, and he has always been struck by the 
singular likeness of the two countries. There is probably a 
closer resemblance between the surface of the country, the 
cattle, horses, the agriculture, and even the people of these two 
areas than any two equally remote regions in the world. 

The western part of the State abounds in natural beauties; 
the rich forests and the noble rivers, the Mississippi, Ohio, 
Tennessee, Cumberland, and the Green, give it a most attrac- 
tive surface. Even the deep swamps of the lowest regions have 
a sombre charm that deserves the attention of the tourist. No 
region ever visited by the writer exceeds in weird beauty the 
environs of Reel Foot Lake, where the great earthquakes of 
1811-13 formed a lake some fifty miles in area. All over its 
surface stand the trunks of the cypresses that grew in the 
swamp before the convulsion. These are now reduced to tall 
columns blackened and whitened by decay. The surface of 
the lake is a mass of water-plants, in summer a perfect carpet of 
flowers ; Nymphaeas, a half-foot or over, and the Nelumbium, 
water-chenquepin, or American lotus, a golden flower often 
exceeding a foot in diameter, cover its surface with their blos- 
soms and fill the air with their perfume. 

Caverns. — The subterranean beauties of the State are al- 
ready famous. The Mammoth Cave is, however, only a noble 
specimen of a vast series of caverns, to be. numbered by the 
tens of hundreds, that occupy nearly all of the Subcarbonif- 

erous Limestone area of the State. This cavern-belt extends 
390 



MARKETS AND TRANSPORTATION. 27 

in a great semicircle from Carter County, where there are 
several beautiful caves and two remarkable natural bridges, 
to the Ohio below Louisville. These caverns have as yet 
been but little explored, and their beauties are mostly undis- 
covered. There are probably many thousand miles of these 
cavern-ways accessible to man. The Indian tribes knew them 
better than our own race ; for it is rarely that we find any 
part of their area which does not show some evidence of 
the presence of ancient peoples. 

MARKETS AND TRANSPORTATION. 

As regards proximity to markets, this State has peculiar 
advantages, which only await the completion of transportation 
routes already begun to render its position unequalled among 
American States. Reference to a map will show that it is the 
most centrally placed in the group of States east of the Rocky 
Mountains. From the geographical centre of Kentucky it is 
about an equal distance to Central Maine, Southern Florida, 
Southern Texas, and Northern Minnesota. The State of Col- 
orado, the Great Lakes, and the mouth of the Mississippi fall 
in the sweep of the same line. 

The river system of the Mississippi has its centre within 
the borders of Kentucky, and her lands are penetrated by more 
navigable rivers than any other State in the Union. Her terri- 
tory includes about fifteen hundred miles of streams that are 
navigable at all stages of water, and about four thousand miles of 
other streams that can be made navigable by locks and dams. 
These streams give access to the whole Mississippi system of 
inland navigation, which includes about twenty-five thousand 
miles of streams now navigable, or readily rendered so by the 
usual methods of river improvement. The State has at pres- 
ent connection by water transportation with at least twenty 
millions of people, occupying an area that will probably con- 
tain near two hundred millions within a century from this date. 
There is a proposition now under discussion to use the con^ 
vict labor of the State on the improvement of the rivers, 
which if carried to success is likely to make their complete 
canalization an accomplished fact within twenty-five years. 

391 



25 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

The existing railways of the State form a system which 
wants but a few connecting hnks to give it an admirable 
relation to the rest of this country. The north and south 
lines consist of the following roads, beginning on the east: 
The Eastern Kentucky, from Riverton in Greenup County 
to Willard in Carter County; thirty-five miles of road built 
to develop the coal and iron district of this section, with the 
expectation of eventual continuation to Pound Gap, and 
connecting with the south-eastern system. The Maysville 
and Lexington Railway, running south as far as Lexington, 
and connecting there with the system of roads about to be 
described. Third in the series on the west we have the Ken- 
tucky Central Railway, now extending to Lexington along the 
banks of the Main Licking Valley and its South Fork. The 
continuation of this road, by either Pound Gap or Cumber- 
land Gap, to the railway system of Eastern Tennessee and 
the valley of Virginia, is likely to be accomplished at an early 
day. The Cincinnati Southern Railway, from the mouth of 
the Licking directly south to Chattanooga, will be completed 
during the present year, and afford an admirably built road 
traversing the State on its longest south and north line, and 
crossing the Blue-grass lands on their longest and best sec- 
tion. This road is likely to be of incalculable value to the 
State, forming as it does a main line to the South and 
South-east. 

The Lexington and Big Sandy Railway is completed, as 
far as Mount Sterling in Montgomery County. This road 
when finished will give Kentucky cheaper and more direct 
communication, by way of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- 
road, with the Atlantic ports. The Mount Sterling coal- 
road, now almost completed, extends from the latter place to 
the border of the eastern coal-field, in Menifee County. The 
extension of this road will greatly facilitate the development 
of the coal and iron region through which it is proposed to 
continue it. 

The Kentucky and Great Eastern Railway is a proposed 
road on which considerable work has been done ; extending 
up the south bank of the Ohio River from Newport, Kentucky, 
39a 



MARKETS AND TRANSPORTATION. 29 

to the Big Sandy River. The completion of this road will add 
greatly to the wealth of river line of counties, and will give the 
State a shorter road to the Atlantic ports than she now has. 

The Louisville, Frankfort, and Lexington Railroad extends 
through the Counties of Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby, Franklin, 
and Fayette. From Lagrange in Oldham County a branch 
extends from this road to Cincinnati, known as the Louisville 
and Cincinnati short line, — that line, passing through the 
counties of Oldham, Henry, Grant, Carroll, Gallatin, Boone, 
and Kenton. 

The Cumberland and Ohio Railroad, narrow-guage, now 
building, when completed, will pass through the counties of 
Henry, Shelby, Spencer, Nelson, Washington, Marion, Tay- 
lor, Green, Metcalf, Barren, and Allen. Its length in Ken- 
tucky will be 165 miles. 

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad extends, with its 
branches, a distance of 356.4 miles through Kentucky in 
different directions. The Main Stem, from Louisville to 
Nashville, has a length within the limits of the State of 139.6 
miles, running through the counties of Jefferson, Bullitt, Nel- 
son, Hardin, Larue, Hart, Edmonson, Barren, Warren, and 
Simpson. The Memphis Branch runs through the counties 
of Warren, Logan, and Todd, having a length in the State 
of 46 miles. The Lebanon Branch extends into South- 
eastern Kentucky, running through the counties of Nelson, 
Marion, Boyle, Lincoln, and Rockcastle ; it has a completed 
length within the State of 109.9 i"niles, and its extension to the 
State line is projected, and its completion only a matter of 
time ; it will then connect with a road leading to Knoxville in 
the State of Tennessee. The Richmond Branch runs throuo^h 
the counties of Lincoln, Garrard, and Madison for 33.4 miles, 
to within a short distance of the rich iron region of Ken- 
tucky. The Bardstown Branch runs through the county of 
Nelson, a distance of 17.3 miles. The Glasgow Branch, 10.2 
miles long, runs to Glasgow, the county-seat of Barren County, 
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad is undeniably one of 
the most important thoroughfares of this continent ; it is 
second only to the Mississippi River as a way for the com- 

393 



30 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

merce between the Northern and Southern States. By means 
of the magnificent railway bridge over the Ohio River at 
Louisville it connects with all the great northern roads, and 
at Nashville and Memphis, its southern termini, it connects 
with all the important roads of the South. 

The Louisville, Paducah, and South-western Railroad ex- 
tends from Louisville to Paducah, a flourishing city situated 
on the banks of the Ohio River, fifty miles from its junction 
with the Mississippi, and is the principal market-town of West- 
ern Kentucky. This railroad penetrates Western Kentucky 
in such a manner, therefore, as to afford easy access to a large 
portion of that section. It runs through the counties of 
Hardin, Grayson, Ohio, Muhlenberg, Hopkins, Caldwell, 
Lyons, Livingstone, Marshall, and McCracken, It passes 
directly through that section of the valuable coal-fields of 
Western Kentucky which lies within the area of the counties 
of Ohio, Muhlenberg, Hopkins, and Grayson. The entire 
length of the Louisville, Paducah, and South-western Rail- 
road is 225 miles, all of which is within the territory of 
Kentucky. 

The Paducah and Memphis Railroad runs through the 
counties of McCracken and Graves, connecting at Memphis 
all of the south-western railroads. 

The Owensboro, Russelville, and Nashville Railroad is 
completed from Owensboro, on the Ohio River, to Owens- 
boro Junction on the Louisville, Paducah, and South-western 
Railroad, passing through the counties of Daviess, McLean, 
and Muhlenburg. 

The Evansville, Henderson, and Nashville Railroad, from 
Henderson on the Ohio River to Nashville, Tenn., passes 
through the counties of Henderson, Webster, Hopkins, Chris- 
tian, and Todd. At Henderson a ferry takes cars to the north- 
ern system of roads. It forms the most important link in a great 
trunk line known as the St. Louis and South-eastern Railway. 
The New Orleans, St. Louis, and Cairo Railroad passes 
through the counties of Ballard and Hickman. The Mobile 
and Ohio Railroad, connecting the city of Mobile on the Gulf 
of Mexico with the Ohio River, penetrates Kentucky through 
the counties of Hickman and Fulton. 

394 



MARKETS AND TRANSPORTATION. 3 1 

At Columbus, in Hickman County, a ferry fitted for the 
carriage of trains gives passage to cars from St. Louis directly 
through to the south-eastera cities. Of the ten before de- 
scribed north and south railways, four have northern con- 
nections ; two (the Cumberland and Ohio and the Cincinnati 
Southern), now under construction, will have southern con- 
nections. The others all look to the same end, but have not 
yet succeeded in accomplishing it. 

It is in roads with eastern connections that the State lacks 
most. There is not yet a single railway crossing the eastern 
line of the State. It is to this difficulty of access from the 
seaward that the State owes the small share it has had in the 
immigration of capital and labor that has filled the lands of 
less attractive regions. Three routes have been begun, which, 
when complete, will fully remedy this grave defect; namely, 
a road from Louisville to the south-east via Cumberland 
Gap, completed to Livingston, and requiring a continuation 
of about one hundred miles to connect with roads leading 
from Morristown, Tenn., to Charleston, S. C. ; a road from 
Mount Sterling to Abingdon, Va., via Pound Gap, requir- 
ing about one hundred and sixty miles of road to complete 
the connection ; a road from Lexington to connect with the 
Chesapeake and Ohio, requiring about eighty miles to bring 
it to completion. The northernmost and southernmost of 
these roads are likely to be carried forward to completion 
within a few years. There is a project for building up, east 
and west, a road along the northern range of counties of the 
State, giving a continuous route from Henderson, and the 
roads connecting at that point, to the connections with 
Charleston and Savannah from Morristown, Tenn. ; also a 
project for a road from Chicago to Charleston, crossing Ken- 
tucky from Gallatin County to Cumberland Gap. 

It will be seen from this brief sketch that the railway sys- 
tem of Kentucky is on the whole good, and wants but little to 
make it, as a system of trunk lines, exceedingly well adapted 
to the development of her resources. Taken in connection 
with the river system, it is clear that, within a generation, we 
may expect here a transportation system excelled by no State 
on the continent. .wj 



32 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

With reference to markets, it will be seen, by consulting the 
census tables, that the State has at present access to a larger 
number of markets than any other Western State : although 
there is but one large city within her limits, the cities of 
Cincinnati, St. Louis, Nashville, and Indianapolis lie upon her 
borders. Her principal export products have a special value 
that makes them sought on her own soil by purchasers enough 
to take any product that can be furnished ; on the borders of 
the State, a host of manufacturino^ towns are rising that will 
certainly make a market for all the food, fuel, and raw products 
from her soil, quarries, and mines. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

In no other State having any thing like the same advan- 
tages can lands be bought at so low a price. The best 
agricultural lands, or those commanding the highest price, 
are found in the Limestone regions and along the principal 
rivers ; these, when cleared and not worn, bring from thirty 
to one hundred dollars per acre. The same, uncleared, will 
be about half these rates. The second-rate lands in the same 
regions bring from ten to forty dollars per acre. The lands 
on the coal-bearing beds, though often exceedingly fertile, 
are generally very cheap. When contiguous to transportation 
they may generally be estimated at about ten dollars per acre, 
but the tracts of good tobacco lands, with excellent timbering 
and great mineral resources, can often be purchased for two 
to four dollars per acre in tracts suitable for ordinary farming, 
within ready access of permanent transportation. Vast tracts 
of timber land, suitable for grazing, with much excellent land 
in the coves, or other level places, can be bought for from fifty 
cents to one dollar and a half per acre. 

As a general thing, it may be said that the lands in this 

State are much cheaper than in any State north of the Ohio 

River. This is owing to the fact that, destitute of eastern 

communication, the State has hitherto had but a small share 

of the tide of immigration of capital and labor that has poured 

past her borders to fill the favored fields of the far West. 

Nearly all the products of Kentucky have their prices 
396 



PRICE OF LANDS. 33 

determined by the cost of transportation to the great centres 
of population along the Atlantic seaboard or beyond the 
sea. Its tobacco, pork, grain, and some of the costlier na- 
tive woods, and some other products find their principal 
markets in Europe ; cattle, and to a certain extent the other 
agricultural products of the State, have their values deter- 
mined by the cost of transportation to the American At- 
lantic markets. Hitherto, this access to, the domestic and 
foreign markets of the Atlantic shores has been had by way 
of the railway systems which traverse the region north of 
Kentucky, and from which the State has been divided by op- 
posing interests and the physical barrier of the Ohio River. 
All the development of the State has taken place under these 
disadvantages. A comparison of the tables of cost given below 
will show that the complete opening of the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi to ocean ships will result in the enfranchisement of 
the productions of Kentucky in an extraordinary way.* At the 
present time, the freight-rates from the lower Ohio to Liver- 
pool would permit the profitable shipment of the cannel coal 



* " The following are taken from published freight-rates, and give time and cost 
of transit from St. Paul's, two thousand miles above New Orleans, to Liverpool by 
the two routes : — 

Cost per bushel. Time. 
Cents. Days. 

From St. Paul's to Chicago i8 4 

Lake from Chicago to Buffalo 8 6 

Canal from Buffalo to New York 14 24 

New York to Liverpool 16 12 

Elevator or trans-shipment charges, Chicago • . 2 2 

„ „ „ Buffalo . . 2 2 

„ „ „ New York , 4 2 

Total 64 52 

Cost per bushel. Time. 
Cents. Days. 

From St. Paul's to New Orleans (via river) . . 18 10 

New Orleans to Liverpool 20 20 

Elevator charges, New Orleans 2 I 

Total 40 31 ^ 

Here is a saving by direct trade of twenty-four cents per bushel, or eight shil- 
lings per quarter, and a saving of twenty-one days in lime. To be fair, I have 
taken the extreme point : but the nearer the grain is to t e Gulf, the cheaper the 
transportation.'''' 

5 .'397 



34 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

and native woods of many different species to Europe with one 
trans-shipment at New Orleans. It is impossible, on account of 
limited space, to give a detailed statement on this point ; but 
evidence can be furnished to those desiring it. It is to be no- 
ticed that it is possible for several months each year to bring 
ships of large draught of water to the loading points on the 
Ohio River, and load them for direct trade with Europe. The 
tonnage of such vessels both ways from New Orleans would 
be at the lowest rates for such work current in any region. 
It will be seen that the State of Kentucky has the most exten- 
sive shore on the navigable waters of the Mississippi Valley, 
and that even in the present incomplete development of her 
navigation system she will have over fifteen hundred miles of 
frontage on continuously navigable waters. There can be no 
doubt that the market expenses of the products of the State 
will be reduced nearly one-half when the far-reaching conse- 
quences of the development of water-transportation are at- 
tained. It will not be amiss to notice that the costs of trans- 
portation by water, far lower than by rail in most countries, is 
peculiarly cheap on the Mississippi and its principal tributa- 
ries ; coal is lower than in any other country, as is also timber 
for boat-building ; there are no tolls on the streams, and the 
currents are generally slow near the shores, admitting of toler- 
ably easy ascent 

FITNESS FOR INVESTMENTS OF CAPITAL AND LABOR. 

For all the important branches of agriculture and manufact- 
ure, so far as they depend on cheap and fertile soils, good climate, 
and a great abundance and low price of coal, iron, and hard-wood 
timber, and last, but not least, low taxation, — Kentucky offers 
unsurpassed advantages for the creation of industries. It will 
be impossible to name these opportunities in detail, but some 
of the most important may be suggested. The growing in- 
dustries of the Ohio-River Valley and the neighboring regions 
offer continued opportujiities for the increase in the export 
of the raw products of the State, Coal, iron, salt, timber^ 
cements, building-stones, can all be produced at great profits, 
even in the present depressed state of the industries of the 
398 



INVESTMENTS OF CAPITAL AND LABOR. 35 

world. The Ohio Valley probably gains in population at an 
average rate of not less than five per cent, per annum. This 
great elasticity of demand insures a successful result in any 
discreet industrial venture. Besides the coal and iron mines, 
the attention of capitalists is requested to the production of 
other articles of equally steady demand. Salt can be produced 
over a large area at the cheapest possible rate, — the water hardly 
requiring pumping from the shallow wells, and the gas furnish- 
ing fuel. The great amount of fire-clays should be considered. 
The tile-clays are admirable in quantity and quality. An area 
of several thousand square miles in the State is rich in marls, 
containing large quantities of potash and soda, fitted for the 
production of fertilizers. The western section of the State is 
admirably fitted for ship-building; excellent ship-timber can 
be had cheaper than in any other country, and there is ample 
water to take ships drawing twenty feet to the sea for half the 
year. Besides the enormous possibilities of business derived 
from the working of raw products, finding their market in the 
great and growing States of the Mississippi Valley, there are 
most important opportunities derived from its relation to the 
regions beyond the sea. The natural outlet to the Atlantic 
ports for these products is by way of the Mississippi to the 
sea. The freights from Western Kentucky to New Orleans 
are less than one-half of the rate from the same region directly 
to New York. Until the success of the Eades-Jetty project, 
this method of carriage to the sea was practically impossible. 
At present it is practicable to load timber-ships and colliers at 
the ports from the western coal-field, and send them directly 
to the Atlantic ports, or to any markets beyond the sea. Al- 
ready a large trade in wine-cask staves exists between this 
region and Europe. These staves pass through six hands be- 
fore coming to the consumer. These exchanges could be readily 
reduced to three by direct shipment. The demand seems to be 
practically inexhaustible, and the timber exists in very great 
quantities. To this industry there could be readily added a 
business in the manufacture and shipment of spokes, felloes, 
and other carriage-parts, the parts of railway-carriages, agricul- 
tural implements, &c. Building-stones of admirable quality 

399 



36 



GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY 



exist all along the tributaries of the Ohio, and their export to 
the Atlantic ports is already a considerable commerce. 

As will be seen from the accompanying map, the State of 
Kentucky lies, as a region of peculiar mineral resources, in the 
centre of the region now holding, and destined always to hold, 
the mass of American population. The present centre of 
population is adjacent to the northern border of Kentucky, and 
it is practically certain that in centuries to come it must re- 
main within or on the borders of Kentucky. This makes it 
sure that manufactures will from this region always command 
the widest markets with the least carriage. 

The advantages of this district to the agriculturist are 
known by the cheap land, good climate, and abundant variety 
of crops. These crops are near to a great and growing set of 
markets. Among the new ventures in agriculture must be 
placed fruit-culture for the northern markets, — a business that 
is now taking a very important place in the industries of the 
State. The poorer lands of the southern part of the State have 
a peculiar fitness for this purpose. 

The following table, compiled from the United States cen- 
sus report, proves that Kentucky is susceptible of a greater 
variety of production than any other State. It will be ob- 
served that it is in each census the first State in the production 
of some one or more staple articles : — 



Wheat 

Swine 

Mules 

Indian Corn 

Tobacco 

Flax 

Rye 

Hemp 

Cotton 

Value of Home Manufactures 



1840. 


1850. 


i860. 


First. . 


Ninth. 


Ninth. 


Second. 


Second. 


Fourth. 




Second. 


Second. 


Second. 


First. 




Second. 


Second'. 


Second. 


Third. 


First. 


Third. 


Fourth. 




Fifth. 




First. 


First. 


Eleventh. 






Third. 




Second. 



1870. 



Eicrhth. 

Fifth. 

Third. 

Sixth. 

First.* 

Eighth. 

Fifth. 

First. 

Twelfth. 

Third. 



* In 1870 Kentucky produced tfear one-half of all the tobacco produced in the United States, 
and more than half of all the Hemp. The production of Tobacco increased from 105,305,869 poimds 
in 1870, to 158,184,929 pounds in 1873. 



The high rank of Kentucky as an agricultural State can 
best be appreciated when it is remembered that more than one- 



400 



INVESTMENTS OF CAPITAL AND LABOR. ■}^'] 

half of the State is in forest, and that the State is only exceeded 
in area of woodland by three States. Yet, with less than half 
the land in cultivation, the State ranks eighth in the value of 
agricultural products. 

Building and other Economic Stones. — The building-stones 
of this State are limited to Limestones and Sandstones. Within 
these limits, however, there is a most abundant variety of color, 
hardness, and other qualities. The Limestones of the Upper 
Cambrian, or so-called Lower Silurian, are excellent stones of 
exceedingly varied qualities. Usually they afford a gra}' mar- 
ble of admirable resisting powers against wear, especially 
fitted for buildings when their courses of rocks are suitable. 
Along the Kentucky River this series of rocks affords a beau- 
tiful buff and cream-colored marble, admirably fitted for detailed 
sculpture work, the Clay Monument at Lexington being made 
of this stone. This stone can be quarried on the banks of the 
river in any quantity and at small expense, and transported by 
boat to the Ohio River. Next above this level we have the equiv- 
alent of a part of the cliff-limestone of Ohio, which has received 
the local name of Cumberland Sandstone in the Kentucky re- 
ports. This Sandstone is thin, and passes into a cherty Lime- 
stone in the northern part of the State ; but in the basin of the 
Cumberland it is of a peculiar greenish color, affording a very 
handsome and durable building-stone, resembling in many re- 
gards the Buena Vista Sandstone of Ohio. This stone will 
doubtless have considerable value in the time to come, as it is 
peculiar in its color among all the building-stones of the Ohio 
Valley. No other good building-stones occur until, after pass- 
ing above the Black Shale, we come to the beds of Sandstone of 
the Waverly period. The beds of this section afford the only 
Sandstones of the State that have been extensively worked for 
building purposes. These beds, commonly known as Buena 
Vista stone, are the only source of the Sandstones used in Cin- 
cinnati and Louisville, and in most of the other western cities. 
At present they are worked along the Ohio and south-east of 
Mount Sterling in Montgomery County ; but they can be had 
where the Licking, Kentucky, Salt, and Green Rivers cross the 
Waverly, and at the points where the railroads of the State 
pass over the same formation. 401 

VOL. II. — 26 



38 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

It is, however, in the Subcarboniferous or Mountain Lime- 
stone that the greatest variety and area of economic stones 
occur. Here we have Limestones (carbonates) which are the 
finest known in this country ; OoHtes which, for beauty of 
grain and endurance of time and other forms of wear, are un- 
surpassed ; Dolomites that have all the fine qualities belonging 
to those Magnesian l^imestones ; and, finally, a series of more 
or less Argillaceous Limestones, some of which are already in 
use as lithographic stones, and promise good results. These 
Oolites have been in use for forty years in the town of Bowling 
Green, and retain all their tool-marks as when dressed, having 
hardened very much since their working. Stones for furnace- 
hearths abound throughout the whole mineral district. Some 
millstones have been worked for local purjDOses, but have had 
no extensive test. Grindstones are made from the Waverly 
Sandstone, which is admirably fitted for this use. Some good 
grindstones have been made from the Carboniferous Sand- 
stones of Western Kentucky. 

GOVERNMENT, POPULATION, TAXES, EDUCATION, FUTURE. 

The government of Kentucky is at present modelled in part 
on that of New York, and in part on that of Virginia, — the 
legal framework being essentially that of the former State. 
The legislative machinery differs somewhat from that of the 
other States, in that the senate is re-elected one-half each two 
years, while the lower house is simply renewed each two years 
by election. There is no actual State debt, — the school-fund 
debt being such only in appearance, in fact only an obligation 
to pay a certain sum for the support of schools. No State debt 
can constitutionally be contracted, and during the last ten 
years, while other States have been steadily increasing their 
obligations, Kentucky has paid off the debt which was left by 
the war, and now is debtless, and with considerable assets. 
The last legislature (1876) reduced the 'taxes by one-eighth, 
after a careful inquiry going to show that it could be done 
with safety. The following statement summarizes the condi- 
tion of the State in 1875 : — 
402 



EDUCATION. 39 

** It will thus be seen, that in the last two years we have redeemed and 
paid off $347,000 of the public debt, and there now only remains of bonds 
outstanding and unredeemed $184,394. The residue of these bonds are 
not due and redeemable until 1894-5-6." 

To meet this indebtedness we had, on the loth of October, 1875, ^^^^ 
end of the fiscal year,* — 

To the credit of the Sinking Fund $i53)559-07 

230 United States 5-20 gold-bearing interest bonds, 

worth not less than 20 per cent, premium . , . 246,000.00 



Making $399>559-07 

The whole traditions of the State are strongly in favor of 
economy and honesty in every branch of public affairs. No 
loss by defalcation has ever occurred to the State. Debts 
cannot be incurred by counties, cities, or towns without special 
authority from the legislature. This permission is now given 
only in rather rare cases, and is subject to great limitations 
from the organic law. The result of these conditions is an 
immunity from the danger of destructive taxation, such as does 
not exist in any other State in this country. 

Education. — The State now gives from the general treas- 
ury the sum of one million dollars to the purpose of common 
school education ; this is, per capita^ as large a contribution 
from the general fund as is given in any State ; as yet, this 
has been inadequately supplemented by local aid, but much 
progress is now making towards the creation of graded schools 
in every village where the population admits of it. The laws 
allow the imposition of a considerable local tax for schools. 
There is no State with an equally scattered population where 
so much has been done for the elementary education. 

Universities and colleges do not now receive the aid of the 
State. There are, however, a number of excellent institutions 
of this grade in the State. The first collegiate institution west 
of the AUeghanies was Transylvania University, at Lexington. 
Kentucky University, Georgetown College, Centre College, 
and a number of other similar schools of newer date, many of 

* In a report made by the State Treasurer, January, 1876, the State debt \Yas 
shown to have been much less than the above, and the surplus in the Treasury 
had increased to near one million of dollars. This report will appear in next 
edition of this pamphlet. 

403 



40 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF KENTUCKY. 

them excellent in their methods, and provided with considera- 
ble endowments, furnish the higher education of the State. 

The charitable institutions, nominally so called, are suffi- 
ciently furnished by the State. A very high place is held by the 
asylums for the deaf and dumb and for the feeble-minded, 
in both of which recognized advances have been made in the 
methods of dealing with these forms of human infirmity. 

It remains to speak of the most important element in the 
State, its population.* Probably no other State in this Union 
contains a people as purely English in descent as this. At 
this date (1876) the population numbers 1,600,000; of these 
only 200,000 are of African descent, or about one-eighth of 
the total. There is a steady decrease in the black population, 
and an equally steady increase of the white, so that the negro 
now makes but an inconsiderable fraction of the State ; by 
far the greater part of the blacks are gathered about the 
towns in light labor of the domestic class. The relations be- 
tween the two races are those of entire harmony. Separate 
schools are founded for the two races. 

In 1870, the foreign-born population in Kentucky amounted 
to 63,398 (is probably at the present time less than 100,000); 
of these 31,767 were Germans, and the remainder from various 
other European countries. The greater part of this foreign 
population is settled along the Ohio River, but it exists in 
almost every county. The honest and self-supporting citizen 
of every country has always received a warm welcome in 
Kentucky; no jealousy has ever shown itself towards the 
foreigner. The government of the State has for years always 
had a number of conspicuous members from beyond the sea ; 
one of the United States senators and several of the members 
of the legislature are also from other countries. 

Without indulgence in excessive claims, which would be 
quite foreign to the sober tone of this Commonwealth, we 
may reasonably expect for Kentucky, in the time to come, a 
substantial growth proportioned to her natural advantages. 
As at the present moment,^when the country generally is under 

* In 1790, Kentucky was the fourteenth State in population, having a population 
of 72),^77. In 1870, Kentucky was the eighth State in population, having 1,321,011 ; 
404 



FUTURE. 41 

a heavy burden, the result of its commercial extravagances, the 
State of Kentucky is actually prosperous in a fair degree, so we 
may expect in the future a consistent and conservative progress 
that will not be attended by those periods of commercial depres- 
sion that so generally accompany a growth of an excessive 
kind. The unequalled blessings of the Ohio Valley, its wealth 
of mineral stores, fertility of soil, goodness of climate, and fa- 
cilities for transportation, are all shared in large measure by 
Kentucky. Another century will doubtless see this Valley the 
greatest seat of those productions that require cheap power 
and cheap food for their making, bringing a population equal 
to that of the equal areas in the great European States ; when 
this comes, this Commonwealth will contain within her borders 
probably not less than eight millions of people, and sources 
of wealth and power unsurpassed on this continent. 

405 



"Plate TSTo.l. 



TTOK. 
G-HEEig-XJJP, BOYD, C^VRTlSIi, ^ Eart of X.A W RB3NCB3 

^. ,^ COUISTTIES, 



\ 




SANDSTONE 



SERIES ^fi" 






\ 

I UPPEK SERIES^ 



^ Kidaej Ore 



' FROM 250'u) SSO^^^I^^bB 



■_^j^ Block Ore 




10(5 ^y 



r SHALE SERIES] 
ABOVE THE 1 
CONGL. S.S. 
VARYING 

FROM 
60' to lOO' J ^^^S^^ 



53-"^-- ^ s Kiduey Ore / SHALK 



Coarse S.S. j 

CONQI/OMERATeI 
Of y Formation 
VARYING 
FEOM 6'to 100!| 
Congl. 3.3-1 



Fire Clay 1 guB- 

VconglomerateI 

rOAi, ( SHALES. 

Sob.Oo.,.) I 

L .Ore '^^ 

j SOB 

/cARBOxnmous| 

( LIMBSTONE 
Limestone \ VARYING 

( PROM o'tolOOl 



y T 



ICidney Ore y 



P.C. 

.'Ore 
Limestone 



I SANDSTONE 



^^S^^^= Imp.Li 



^ 



I^S^^C 



TOP OF 
"WAVERLY. 3^0' 



jo6 




COAL No,3 I 



Greenish 
S.S.& S. 



[0PPER .SERIES 

CONTINUED 

ROCKS 

VARYING 



S.S. with / FEOM SHALE 
Bauds of 



Rough 

Kidney 

Ore. 



COARSB S.S. 
AND 



Imp.L.S. 1 CONGL. S.S. 

S.orS.S. 



Bogart * Polger Cii 



BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 
OF THE BIG-SANDY VALLEY. 



The valley of the Chatterawah or Big-Sandy River is entirely 
within the limit of the coal-measures, and, with perhaps one 
or two exceptions, where the Subcarboniferous Limestone is 
brought to the surface, the rocks exposed on the waters of the 
Big Sandy are those of the coal-measures proper. 

The number of distinct beds of coal known to be present 
in this valley is twelve. Iron ores are found at about an equal 
number of levels. The accompanying general section, from 
report of A. R. Crandall on the geology of Greenup, Carter, 
Boyd, and Lawrence Counties, shows the order of the beds, 
both of coal and of iron ore, near the Ohio River. Further 
southward changes occur in the general character of the rocks 
above coal No. 3, so changing the general section as to render 
any identification of beds from the little that is now known of 
them quite untrustworthy. Fuller investigation will doubtless 
discover most of the coals as found near the Ohio, and the 
thickening of beds as found southward gives promise of richer 
fields than those already developed. 

The following table shows the thickness of the beds that 
have been fully identified as seen in the locaHties where 
mined : — 





Minimum. 


Maximum. 


Coal, No. I. 


3 ft. in. 


5 ft. in. 


„ „ 2. 


2 „ „ 


3 » 8 „ 


„ 3- 


2 „ 6 „ 


6 „ 6 „ 


„ 4- 


2 „ „ 


4 » 6 „ 


» 5- 


3 » 6 „ 


9 „ „* 


» „ 6. 


3 „ „ 


4 „ „ 


„ 7- 


3 „ „ 


6 „ „ 


„ 8- 


2 ,, 6 „ 


8 » „ 


» 9- 


2 „ „ 


2 » 6 „ 


» V 10- 




3 „ 6 „ 


» j» II- 


2 ,, „ 


2 ,, 6 „ 


„ „ 12. 




t 


* Coal 5 is generally slat 


y in part where found 


in great thickness. 


t Not opened. 







407 



44 



ECONOMIC GEOLOGY OF BIG-SANDY VALLEY. 



The following table of analyses of samples, taken from the 
whole thickness of beds as mined, will serve to indicate the 
character of the beds included, and of the coals of this field 
generally : — . 



Specific Gravity . 
Moisture . . 
Volatile Com. Mat 
Fixed Carbon . 

Ash 

Sulphur 



No. I. 



O 



1.267 
2.50 
36.00 
57-30 
2.90 
1. 148 



No. 



i^a 



1.289 
4.10 
34.60 

55-25 
4-77 
1.414 



No. 3. 



No. 4. 



U ° 



No. 5. 



m> 



1-317 


1.306 


3.26 1.50' 


54.22 ?2.20 


■5-36 


40.60 


7.16 


5-70 


0.901 


0.782 



1.360 
3.20 
32-30 

53.00 

11.50 

1.999 



1.279 

2.94 
32.50 
56.76 

7-74 
1.972 



No. 7. 



1.320 

5.00 

34-50 

55.40 

5.10 

1.285 



No. 8. 









1.367 

3-50 

31.90 

52.06 

12.50 

0.873 



Coal No. 8, as represented in this table, is from the head of 
Nat's Creek, in the north-eastern corner of Johnson County, 
where it is fully eight feet in thickness, with slight partings. 
The only average sample from this locality was necessarily 
taken from near the outcrop, giving too large a percentage of 
ash, and probably too small a percentage of sulphur. 
- The thickness of the measures, which include the coals of 
this table, is about four hundred feet in the regions best 
known. Coal No. i is exposed along the Big Sandy, south- 
ward from Peach Orchard and Warfield, at a level which is in 
general slightly above high-water mark. The hills along the 
river and the main creeks rise to the height of six and seven 
hundred feet, including the equivalents of the accompanying 
general section from coal No. i upward. What beds are pres- 
ent in these hills is yet to be ascertained. 
408 



GENERAL RESOURCES 



OF THE 



WESTERN COAL-FIELD AND BORDERING 
TERRITORY. 



I. 

SUBCARBONIFEROUS BEDS. 



The coal-field is bordered by Subcarboniferous beds, which 
are, in succession, those forming the Chester group, and those 
included in the St. Louis group. 

The Chester series are rich in stores of potash-marls, while 
the St. Louis group yields a number of beds of very admirable 
building-material. 

It is also in the region underlaid by the Subcarboniferous 
beds that the excellent Limonite iron-ore, so highly esteemed 
by iron-manufacturers, is found. 

As the group is of especial interest, the following typical 
section of the Chester group, as it occurs on the eastern out- 
skirts of the coal-field, is given : * — 

No. I. Shale, with thin beds of Limestone 15 feet. 

2. Heavy-bedded, cherty Limestone 13 » 

3. Red and green Shale 5 »> 

4. Rhomboidally-jointed Sandstone, frequently charged with 

Brachiopoda o to 10 „ 

5. Limestone 2 „ 

6. Shale 10 „ 

7. Limestone and Shale 20 „ 

8. Green, red, purple, and blue, marly Shales ; the Leitchfield 

marls ' 25 to 60 „ 

9. Shale and thin-bedded Limestone S >' 

10. Shaley Sandstone .• o to 20 „v 

11. Heavy-bedded, dark-gray, and blue Limestone . . 15 to 45 „ 

12. Massive Sandstone; the "big-clifty" Sandstone . 60 to 130 „ 

* Described in detail in Part VL, Vol. L, Second Series Kentucky Geological 
Reports. N. S. Shaler, Director. . 4°? 



46 GENERAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN COAL-FIELD. 

This section is frequently modified. The economic values 
of the different beds are dependent, in a measure, on their per- 
sistency. Space forbids any detailed discussion of the ques- 
tion here. It may be remarked, however, that none of the 
beds are found to be trustworthy over large areas, unless it be 
the marls. The persistency of the marls, however, as indi- 
vidual beds, is not a settled question. The strata are ex- 
ceedingly variable in their lithological features, and lateral 
changes are very frequent, both in their composition and 
thickness. It is not uncommon for Limestone or Sandstone- 
beds to be, either in whole or in part, replaced by Shales. 
Hence beds occurring at some certain locality that would, 
from their color and composition, be referred to the horizon 
of the Leitchfield marls, may really belong at a lower or 
higher level, having replaced some more solid bed. This, 
however, does not militate against the fact that the Leitchfield 
marls proper extend over a great area. 

The St. Louis group is distinctly separated by the physical 
characters of its strata into two divisions. The upper or 
gray Limestone division is formed of a series of gray and drab 
•beds, among which are included two well-marked varieties. 
One variety, a white Oolite, is quite characteristic of the divi- 
sion. Usually associated with the Oolite are beds of dense 
drab to cream-colored stone, which breaks with a smooth, 
conchoidal fracture, and resembles lithographic stone. 

The upper division furnishes some of the best building- 
stones and materials for lime that are to be found in the State. 
The lower division includes beds of dark -blue to bluish-gray 
Limestone. The rock is frequently fetid from carbonaceous 
matter, such as bitumen, held in it, and nests of massive ^ 
calcite and fluor spar are not infrequent in it. The study 
of this group is especially interesting on account of its being: 
the repository of the lead deposits of Western Kentucky. 

* A section of the beds forming the group, and other matters concerning it, 
will be found in Part VL, Vol. L, Second Series Kentucky Geological Reports. 
N. S. Shaler, Director. 
410 



THE COAL-FIELD. 47 

II. 

THE COAL-FIELD. 

In studying the resources of the area occupied by the 
Carboniferous beds in Western Kentucky, the greatest inter- 
est naturally belongs to that section underlaid by the coal- 
measures. 

In form the coal-field is somewhat basin-like ; that is, the 
beds incline from the margins towards the centre. The 
border of the field has never been completely traced with 
accuracy; but its course may be approximately delineated as 
follows : * — 

Commencing at the Ohio River, in Crittenden County, it 
follows up the valley of the Tradewater River into Caldwell 
County ; thence' crossing into Christian County at a point 
about five or six miles above Tradewater station (on the 
Louisville, Pacudah, and South-western Railroad), it keeps in 
a south of easterly course towards the head-waters of the Pond 
River. From a point about two and a half or three miles 
south of Petersburg, Christian County, the southern boundary 
makes a south-eastwardly curve, passing by the head-waters 
of the Pond River to the Muddy River, which stream it 
crosses somewhere near its forks. Thence it passes through 
the southern part of Butler County, crossing Barren River 
below the mouth of Gasper River, thence eastwardly along 
the divide between those rivers, crossing Green River above 
the mouth of Nolin River, and extending north-eastward to 
the head-waters of Casey Creek in Hart County. Thence it 
curves to the north-west, crossing Nolin River near the mouth 
of Dog Creek ; passing a point between Millwood and Leitch- 
field in Grayson County, — an outlier or tongue extending 
north-eastwardly, on the north side of Nolin River to the 

* These outlines have been mainly obtained from Vol. I. Kentucky Geological 
Reports, First Series ; D. D. Owen, Director. They are quite imperfect, so far as 
regards details, but are sufficiently accurate for present general purposes. The 
faithful delineation of the outline of the coal-field has been made part of the work 
of the present survey. 

4" 



48 GENERAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN COAL-FIELD. 

head-waters of Hunting Fork, of Rock Creek, — and thence 
on to the Ohio River, to a point not far below Cloverport 
in Breckenridge County. 

In the space thus included lie the whole of nine counties, 
and parts of five more, making an approximate total of nearly 
four thousand square miles for the area of the coal-field. 

The Number of Coal-beds, &c. — Twelve coal-beds have 
been identified in the space between the Conglomerate (the 
base of the coal-measures) and the summit of the series. 

It is believed as not improbable, however, for reasons un- 
necessary to discuss here, that, when sufhcient data have been 
gathered to warrant a generalization concerning the number 
of beds, it will be found expedient to designate a less number 
of coals in the general section for the coal-field. For the 
present, therefore, a letter is used to designate each bed. 

The results of the work of the Survey, so far, point to 
eight as the number of beds that may prove sufficiently trust- 
worthy to receive final numbers. The total thickness of the 
coal-measures is as yet only approximately known. The 
thickness is variable, as is the number of coal-beds, and is 
greater at some localities than at others. It does not seem 
probable, however, that it will anywhere exceed one thousand 
(1,000) feet, and there are districts in which it is less than 
eight hundred (800) feet. 

On the m^ap of Kentucky will be found a section showing 
the position and number of these coals as determined by Dr. 
Owen's Survey, as well as some modifications made by the 
present Survey. 

The thickness indicated for each bed, and the included 
space, are strictly in accordance with Dr. Owen's statement. 

1. Anvil Rock Sandstone 20 feet. 

2. Coal, No. 12 (Coal A) 3 „ 

3. Space 21 „ 

4. Coal, No. 1 1 (Coal B) 5 >» 

5. Space • • •, 46 „ 

6. Coal No. 10 (Coal C) 3 „ 

7. Space 68 „ 

8. Coal No. 9 (Coal D) 5 „ 

9. Space 50 „ 

412 



NUMBER OF COAL-BEDS. 49 

10. Coal No. 8 (Coal E) 2yi feet. 

11. Space 43 „ 

12. Coal No. 7 (Coal F?) 2 „ 

13. Space 84 „ 

14. Coal No. 6 (Coal G?) 3 „ 

15. Space 65 „ 

16. Coal No. 5 (Coal H?) 4 „ 

17- Space 95 „ 

18. Coal No. 4 (Coal I) 4 „ 

19- Space 154 

20. Coal No. 3 (Coal J) ^yi » 

21. Space 71 „ 

22. Coal No. 2 (Coal K ?) No thickness given. 

23. Space 82 „ 

24. Coal No. I B (Coal L) 5 „ 

The preliminary arrangement adopted in the present sur- 
vey differs in some particulars from the foregoing. In some 
instances the distances between the coals are increased, and 
in others diminished ; and several of the beds are represented 
at a greater or smaller thickness than they are in Dr. Owen's 
Section. 

The irregular distribution of the coal necessitated the 
separation of that part of the coal-field thus far examined into 
three divisions. The first extends from the eastern border of 
the field to the Green River; the second is approximately 
bounded by the Green and Pond Rivers ; and the third ex- 
tends from the Pond River to the western margin of the field.* 

In the first division are found coals A, B, C, D, E, H, K, 
and L ; proving eight of the twelve beds to be present. 

In the second division are found coals A, B, C, D, E, F, 
G, and H ; the number here also being eight. This, how- 
ever, does not represent all of the coals that may be found, 
as the base of the coal-measures was not reached; it repre- 
sents only those coals that come to the surface, or that have 
been reached in pits ; no doubt, most of the lower beds are 
present. 

* The region in question is that which is traversed by the Louisville, Paducah, 
and South-western railroad : none of the country bordering the Ohio River is in- 
cluded ; nor yet that lying near the southern margin of the field. None of that 
region has yet been sufficiently studied to report on the number of beds. See 
Part VL VoL L, Second Series Kentucky Geological Reports, page 374. 

7 4T3 



50 GENERAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN COAL-FIELD. 

In the third division most of the coals are found, the absent 
ones probably being C, F, G, and K (?). 

Generalizing from the results obtained in each of these 
divisions, it is found that the average distances between the 
coals from A to H inclusive, in the region examined, are 
about as follows : — 

1. Coal A 5 feet. 

2. Space 5 

3- Coal B 6 „ 

4- Space 15 „ 

5. Coal C . . Nothing to 2 „ 

6- Space 75 „ ^ 

7- Coal D 5 „ 

8- Space 75 „ 

9. Coal E i>^ » 

ID. Space 20 „ 

11. Coal F iK » 

12. Space 50 „ 

13. Coal G • . . . . i^ „ 

14. Space 100 „ 

15. Coal H 4^ „ 

From coal H to coal L the spaces between the beds are 
very variable, and sufficient data have not been obtained to 
warrant the making of an average. As an instance of the 
changes, it may be mentioned that the distance from coal 
I to coal J varies from fifty to eighty-three feet. 

Were all of the coals united in one bed, the deposit would be 
about thirty-five feet thick. As far as our examinations now 
show, coals K, G, F, E, and C may prove to be only local beds. 

Quality of the Coals. — As a consequence of the very 
imperfect knowledge hitherto had concerning the coals of 
this field, the percentage of sulphur in the coals of Western 
Kentucky has been rated by many not only as inordinately 
high, but greater than in the coals of neighboring regions. 
This has been an error. It is true that in some of the 
beds the percentage of sulphur is large ; but as a class the 
coals will compare favorably with those in any section of the 
Western coal-field. The matter of sampling coals for a rep- 
resentative analysis has not always received the attention 

that should be given it; what may be termed "hand" or 
414 



QUALITY OF COALS. 



51 



picked specimens have in the largest number of cases been 
used for analysis, and analyses made under such conditions 
cannot be fairly compared with ours, that were in every case 
made from samples mechanically taken and faithfully averaged. 

It has been known for some years that the coals of the 
Western coal-field carry, as a class, more sulphur than do 
those in the Appalachian field ; and less than do those in the 
Missouri and Iowa coal-field. It is not, therefore, with 
the coals of the States in the Appalachian coal-field that the 
Western Kentucky beds are to be compared as a class, but 
with those in the West; and when such comparison is im- 
partially made, the Kentucky coals, as a class, are not excelled 
by those in Other sections of the Western coal-field. 

In Indiana and Illinois there are certain beds that have 
won a high reputation, a better one indeed than has hitherto 
been accorded the Kentucky coals ; but later investigations 
have developed the fact that here, too, are exceptionally good 
beds, unexcelled, perhaps, by the most famous of those States. 
They have hitherto escaped general notice, from the fact that 
they do not lie in what has been the district of active 
mining operations, although within convenient reach of trans- 
portation facilities. Following are averaged analyses of those 
beds which so far have been deemed the most important : — * 





Number of Coal. 


A. 


B. 


D. 


J. 


L.» 


L?t 


?* 


Moisture .... 
Volatile Comb. Mat. 
Fixed Carbon . . 
Ash .... 

Sulphur .... 
Specific Gravity . 


3-43 

39.26 

50.23 
7.08 


3-2/ 
38.80 

51-23 
6.70 


3-37 
36.66 

51-97 
8.00 


3-70 
32.56 
50.04 
13.70 


4-85 
'32. 22 

55-03 
7.90 


3-30 
36.00 

57-88 
2.82 


1.30 
59.60 
27.00 
12.10 


100.00 

2-753 
1-383 


100.00 

2,548 
1.309 


100.00 

2.806 
1-354 


100.00 

3.716 
1.398 


100.00 

1-373 
1-319 


100.00 

1.024 
1. 241 


100.00 

1.896 
1. 213 


* From the Coaltown Banks, Christian County. 

t From near Wrightsburg, McLean County. _ j 

i The " Breckenndge " Cannel Coal, from near Cloverport, Breckenridge County. 



* Some of the beds as yet insufficiently studied for judgment to be passed 
on them may prove fully as important, so far as regards quality, as those now 

wrought. 

415 



52 



GENERAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN GOAL-FIELD: 



For comparison with the analyses of coal L, the following 
analyses of the Indiana " block " coal, and the " Big Muddy " 
coal of Illinois are given. These coals are considered to be 
among the best in the Western coal-field; — 



Moistrrre 

Volatile Combustible Matter 

Fixed Carbon 

Ash 

Sulphar 

Specific Gravity .... 



Number of Analysis. 



No. 



I.JO 
36.38 
55.64 

5.28 



r.664 

1-3^3 



No. 2. 



2.68 
36-32 
53-58 

7.42 



r.8o2 
not est. 



No. 3. 



No. 4. 



2.62 
32.04 
58.58 

6.76 



2.472 
1. 310 



3-44 
31.86 

59-54 
5.r6 



1.376 
1. 310 



Numbers i and 2 are analyses of the Indiana "block" coal; 
numbers 3 and 4, of the " Big Muddy " coal of Illinois. 

The analyses were made in the laboratory of the Kentucky 
Geological Survey of carefully averaged samples collected in 
the same manner that the Kentucky coals are sampled.*" 
Special attention is directed to the analyses of the Coaltown 
and Wrightsburg coals. These are what are known as 
"blocking" coals, and withstand weathering remarkably well. 

The Wrightsburg coal is remarkably good, containing less 
than three per cent, of ash, a small proportion of water, and 
but little more than one per cent, of sulphur. Th^re is rea- 
son to hope that the Wrightsburg and Coaltown coal may 
prove serviceable as an iron-making fueL 

The Breckenridge Cannel is already well known for its 
remarkable properties. 

Coal D seems to be the most trustworthy of all of the beds, 
and is the one most generally wrought throughout the coal- 
field. It is most useful as a household fuel. 

Coal B is usually divided about the middle by a clay part- 
ing. The upper sixteen inches serves admirably for gas- 
making; several analyses show it to contain very little 
sulphur, and a large proportion of volatile combustible mat- 
ters. At some points the coal yields an admirable coke. 

* See page 177 of the Chemical Report of the Kentucky Geological Survey j 
Vol. I. Second Series. N. S. Shaler, Director. 
416 



WATER-WAYS AND RAILWAYS. 53 

III. 
WATER-WAYS AND RAILWAYS. 

The coal-field is crossed by three railroads, and is so 
drained by several streams that, were they all prepared for 
navigation (a work of no very serious difficulty), no part of 
it would suffer for means of transportation. 

All of the streams drain towards the Ohio River, which 
offers cheap transportation to the sea. 

The streams that have already been made navigable for part 
of their extent are the Green, the Tennessee, and the Cumber- 
land Rivers ; those streams whose partial improvement is 
both feasible and desirable are the Tradewater and Pond 
Rivers, Rough Creek, Nolin River, Muddy River, and Bear 
Creek. 

The Green River and its tributaries is navigable by locks 
and dams for two hundred and sixty-eight miles. The Ten- 
nessee is navigable from its mouth to Florence, Alabama, a 
distance of about two hundred and fifty miles ; and the Cum- 
berland River is navigable from its mouth to a point about 
one hundred miles above Nashville. 

Regular lines of steamers ply on these rivers. Large ship- 
ments of coal are sent south by the Tennessee River. 

The Pond River flows into the Green River, and during 
high stages of water is navigable for about fifteen miles ; it 
may be rendered navigable by a system of locks and dams, as 
far up as Bakersport, a distance of about thirty miles. 

The Tradewater River is ascended by light-draught boats 
during the spring freshets as far up as Belleville ; it is quite 
practicable for it to be rendered navigable for forty miles, 
or more. 

Prior to the building of the Louisville, Paducah, and South- 
western Railroad, Rough Creek (which empties into Greep 
River), was regularly plied by light-draught steamers as far up 
as Hartford, Ohio County, having been rendered navigable 
by locks and dams. It will be seen that it is a mere question 

VOL. II. — 27 417 



54 GENERAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN COAL-FIELD. 

of enterprise whether or not the streams may be used as 
roads for carrying out produce, &c. 

The railways are the St. Louis and South-eastern Railway 
(connecting St. Louis, Mo., and Nashville, Tenn.), which 
passes north and south through Henderson, Webster, Hop- 
kins, and Christian Counties; the Evansville, Owensboro', and 
Nashville railroad (not yet completed), which (so far as built) 
passes north and south through Daviess and McLean 
Counties into Muhlenburg County ; and the Louisville, Padu- 
cah, and South-western railroad which passes westwardly 
through Gmyson, Ohio, Muhlenburg, Hopkins, and Caldwell 
Counties intersecting the north and south running railroads ; 
one at Owensboro' Junction, and the other at Nortonville. 

The total number of miles of railroads in the coal-field is 
about one hundred and eighty-five. 

Thus it will be seen that transportation is, or can easily be, 
furnished to nearly all of the workable coal-beds. The Green, 
Pond, and Tradewater Rivers and their tributaries (some of 
them of considerable size), and Rough Creek drain a large 
portion of the coal-field ; while other portions are reached by 
the several railroads. Some of the best coals are found on 
the Green and Tradewater Rivers ; but as yet comparatively 
little mining has been done in them. 

So far nearly all of the important mines have been opened 
along the paths of the railroads, a plan which has resulted in 
giving them a more rapid, although more costly, transportation 
than was offered by the rivers. 



IV. 
NUMBER OF COAL MINES, &c. 

In all there are about thirty collieries of importance in the 
coal-field. 

The mines are worked on a general plan modelled on the 

post and stall-system. *About fifteen of them are located 

along the Louisville, Paducah, and South-western Railroad ; 

six along the St. Louis and South-eastern Railway; and two 
418 



THE COAL TRADE. 55 

on the Evansville, Owensboro', and Nashville Railroad. Others 
are located in the neighborhood of Owensboro', bordering the 
Ohio River ; at Airdrie on the Green River ; and several in 
Crittenden and Union Counties, in the vicinity of Caseyville. 

The Coal' Trade, — It is difficult to determine the precise 
amount of coal raised in this field, as the records are very 
imperfect. The product of the Kentucky collieries, however, 
has operated greatly in regulating the amount of foreign coal 
brouoht into the State and into the Southern markets. 

Louisville, of the home markets, has especially been bene- 
fitted by these mines, as the following will show : — 

In the winter of 1871-72, on account of low water, the 
Pittsburgh coal reached the price of $7.00 per load of twenty- 
five bushels, while the Kentucky coal sold at $5.00 and $5.50 
per load.* In the succeeding winter (1872-73), the Ohio River 
was again at a low stage ; but the highest price paid for Pitts- 
burgh coal was ^5.00, the average being $4.50 ; the Kentucky 
article selling at ^4.50 and ^4.00 per load. In the winter of 
1873-74, there was a good stage of water in the Ohio River, 
and at the same time plenty of Kentucky coal, and the Pitts- 
burgh coal sold at ^3.50 and ^4.00 per load. In 1874-75, there 
was a still greater reduction in prices, the Pennsylvania coal 
seUing at ^3.00, and that from Kentucky at $2.75 per load. 

This season, the Kentucky collieries have suffered in com- 
mon with those of other regions, and also from internal com- 
plications ; hence their product may fall behind that of former 
seasons, or at most not go beyond it. 

According to the census reports of 1870, when few collieries 
were in operation in this field, the production of the mines 
amounted to about 115,094 tons of coal; of which 67,466 
tons were raised in Union County, and 23,600 tons in Crit- 
tenden County. 

The product of the mines on the Louisville, Paducah, and 
South-western Railroad alone, from October 1872 to October 
1874, amounted to 270,000 tons,t and at least half as much 

* A ton of coal contains about twenty-five bushels. 

t A number of the largest collieries were not in operation until 1873, hence for 
some of them the statement does not represent a business of two years. Scarcely 
any of the niines had been opened longer than two years when the statistics were 
obtained. 4^9 



56 GENERAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN COAL-FIELD. 

more may be estimated for the product of the other mines for 
that time, placing the probable product at 405,000 tons. 



V. 

BUILDING MATERIALS. 

Wood. — The larger portion of the region west of Salt 
River, especially that lying within the limits of the coal-field, 
is supplied with forests of valuable timber. 

In different sections of the region bordering the Green 
River fine white oak, chestnut, oak, yellow .poplar, and black- 
walnut trees are found. In Daviess, and some other Counties, 
large-sized chestnut trees are not infrequent. The forests of 
Hopkins County and neighboring regions are noted for their 
growth of large-sized oaks and poplars. 

Stone. — The St. Louis group furnishes admirable building- 
stone and material for lime. Some important quarries have 
been opened in its beds. At Bowling Green the Oolite is 
quarried very extensively, and the exportation of the stone in 
dressed blocks has grown into an important industry. At 
Glasgow Junction, in Barren County, the "lithographic " beds 
have also been largely quarried and dressing- works erected. 

The Oolite and " lithographic " stone are both very valuable 
as building material, being unexcelled, perhaps, for nice work 
by any of the Subcarboniferous beds. The Oolite is especially 
esteemed by builders for its durability and beautiful appear- 
ance after dressing. Large quantities of it are sent to St. 
Louis and other western cities and to the south, and even to 
the Atlantic States. The dark blue beds of the St. Louis 
group, and a few of the Chester group, serve very well for 
heavy work. 

Few of the Sandstones in the coal-measures are of much 
value as building material. They are, as a class, too soft and 
incoherent ; hence liable to disintegrate when set in a wall. 
They are occasionally found suitable for ordinary purposes. 
The great sand-rock at the base of the Chester group is in a 

number of places a fairly good building stone. 

420 



MARL BEDS. 57 

Gravel Beds. — Between the Cumberland and Tennessee 
Rivers are large deposits of gravel, the shipment of which to 
cities in which gravelled streets are used may prove a source 
of profit. The gravel covers a considerable area, and in many 
places seems to have formed into ridges. The beds seem to 
be practically almost inexhaustible, and may be accounted 
among the valuable deposits stored in Western Kentuck}'. 

The material is largely used on the streets of Paducah, 
and has also been tried in Louisville. 

Paint Materials. — It is possible that some of the red 
earths found associated with the St. Louis beds may prove 
useful as materials for paint ; their merit, however, is as yet 
only conjectural. 

The Chester group, however, furnishes deposits of un- 
doubted value for paint material. Southwardly from Leitch- 
field, Grayson County, beds are found of two colors, — red and 
light blue. The material has been locally used, and with very 
favorable results. The Shales overlying Coal A frequently 
furnish an abundance of ochre. 



VI. 
OTHER MATERIALS. 

Marl Beds. — One of the most interesting results of the 
geological survey was the discovery of potash and soda in 
some of the marls of the Chester group, in such quantities as 
to prove them valuable as fertilizers. 

Attention was first directed to the deposits near Leitchfield, 
Grayson County, and now they are searched for with interest 
wherever the Chester group is known to occur. They have 
been found in Grayson, Edmonson, Breckenridge, Cald- 
well (?), Christian (?), and Livingston Counties. Their entire 
extent is unknown, but it is not improbable that further ex- 
plorations may prove their existence wherever the Chester 
group is fully developed. 

Scarcely too high an estimate can be placed on these marls 
in Kentucky, as we have therein a ready and cheap fertilizer 

8 421 



58 GENERAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN COAL-FIELD. 

for tobacco lands, — the properties of the marl being to renew 
the vigor of the soil as it is impoverished by the tobacco. 
The infertility of much of the land is largely due, not to origi- 
nal poorness, but to the exhaustion produced by tobacco ; 
these potash marls are expected to serve in placing the lands 
once more in a fertile condition. 

Following, is the analysis of a sample of the marl collected 
from Haycraft's Lick, Grayson County : — 

Composition, dried at 212'' Fahrenheit : — 

Alumina, iron, &c., oxides 27.811 

Lime carbonate 880 

Magnesia .824 

Phosphoric acid .109 

Potash 5.554 

Soda .657 

Water and loss 4-245 

Silica and insoluble silicates 59-92° 

100.000 

Lead. — In nearly all of the regions where the St. Louis 
group is fully developed more or less lead has been found. 
The only mining that has been done for the metal, however, 
has been in Livingston, Crittenden, and Caldwell Counties. 
In Livingston and Crittenden Counties a number of pits and 
excavations of various sorts have been dug for the purpose of 
working the deposits ; with possibly one exception, however, 
the work has so far proven unprofitable. In Crittenden 
County considerable lead has been found at a point known 
as the Columbia mines, leading to the supposition that, eco- 
nomically managed, they may be wrought at a small profit. 
So far these lead-mines have had to contend with the produc- 
tion from the mines in the Rocky Mountains, where a large 
quantity of this metal has been produced, almost without cost, 
in the reduction of ores for their silver. Should this compe- 
tition be in time removed, they would become more important 
sources of profit. 

Zhic. — Zinc is frequeiltly found in the form of the sulphide 

(Black-jack) accompanying the lead ; it has never been found 

in sufficient quantities for working. 
422 



MINERAL SPRINGS. 59 

Iron Ore. — As hitherto mentioned, some of the regions 
underlaid by the Subcarboniferous beds furnish admirable 
Limonite ore. 

Towards the base of the coal-measures the Shales frequently 
carry good beds of the Carbonate ore ; in general, however, 
the beds of the coal-measures are unproductive, save near 
their base, where some of the best ores of the Ohio Valley are 
found. 

Fluor Spar. — Fluor spar is found in more or less quanti- 
ties throughout the lead region. In Crittenden County, north- 
wardly from the Columbia mines, fluor spar is found in great 
abundance. Considerable deposits of the massive variety, very 
white and apparently free from impurities, are found at the 
Memphis mines and vicinity. It is not unlikely that other 
important deposits may be found. 

Mineral Springs. — Springs of sulphur and chalybeate 
water are not uncommon in regions where the Subcarbonif- 
erous series come to the surface. 

The ones most frequented are the Grayson and Rough 
Creek Springs in Grayson County, the Ohio Springs in Ohio 
County, and the Sebree Springs in Webster County. 

The Grayson and Rough Creek Springs are watering-places 
of considerable popularity in Kentucky and the South ; the 
Grayson Springs being, perhaps, the most generally known. 
There are a number of other springs resorted to, and whose 
waters are esteemed by many ; they have, however, more of a 
local reputation. The Sebree Springs have many visitors from 
the western part of the State and contiguous regions during 
the summer.* 

The coal-measures also furnish mineral waters in some 
regions. The most interesting are in Daviess County, and are 
known as Hickman's Springs. Several of the waters are re- 
markable for the amount of alum they contain. 

* Analyses of the waters from the various springs will be found in the Chem- 
ical Report, Vol. I., Second Series, Kentucky Geological Reports. »- 

423 



6o 



GENERAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN COAL-FIELD. 



VII. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON AGRICULTURE. 



Soil. — There are three general varieties of soil found in the 
region of the Carboniferous rocks. 

The soil of the coal-measures, originating as it does from 
Sandstones and Shales, is a light, sandy mixture, usually yellow- 
isli in color ; or a rather dense, dark-colored material becoming 
waxy and unmanageable after rains, — according to localities. 
The soil resulting from the beds of the coal-measures seems 
especially adapted for the growth of tobacco. This ma}' be due 
to the fact that nearly all of the Sandstones are micaceous, and 
that upon disintegration the mica furnishes the mixture with 
the potash required by the plant. 

In the Chester group we get a mingling of sandy, calcareous, 
and aluminous materials, producing in some regions a fairly 
good soil. In general, however, Shale predominates largely, 
and produces, when unmingled with other materials, a poor 
and stubborn soil. 

The finest soil for general purposes is furnished, perhaps, 
by the St. Louis group. It is a deep-red earth, rich in iron 
and other desirable matters. This soil is very characteristic 
of the St. Louis group, and is almost invariably found where 
the limestones are the first beds below the surface. 

Crops. — Tobacco is the staple agricultural product of 
Western Kentucky ; the other crops, such as wheat, oats, corn, 
and hay, are raised more for home consumption than as an 
article for exportation. 

The following are the yields per acre of the several products, 
so far as past observation would indicate : — 



Lowest 
Yield. 



Highest 
Yield. 



Average 
Yield. 



Corn * . . . 

Wheat * . . . 
Hay, (Timothy) f 
„ (Red Top) t 
Tobacco X . . . 



10 

8 

I 

300 



60 

35 

2 

2 

1500 



30 
10 

^% 

800 



* Yield in Bushels. 



t Yield in Tons. 



% Yield in Pounds. 



424 



TOBACCO CROP. 



6i 



In her tobacco yield, Kentucky now stands first among the 
States, and the western part of the Stat<i furnishes by far the 
larger portion. 

The principal tobacco-growing counties east of the Tennes- 
see River are Caldwell, Christian, Daviess, Henderson, Hardin, 
Hopkins, Muhlenburg, and Ohio; Daviess County is said to 
be the largest producer, Christian County standing second. 

The principal shipping points are Henderson, Owensboro', 
and Hopkinsville ; Princeton and Eddyville are also depots 
for the handling of tobacco, — the former place doing a con- 
siderable business. 

Owensboro', it is said, is the largest "strip" market in the 
world ; Henderson falls but little behind it, and was until within 
the last year or two the largest market. 

The time has been too limited wherein to obtain complete 
statistics of the trade at the different shipping points ; the 
following statements, however, of the market at Owensboro' 
and Hopkinsville for a period of years will serve to show the 
magnitude of the tobacco interest. 

The statistics concerning the Owensboro' market were 
kindly furnished by Captain R. L. Triplett. 

Statement of the Amount of Tobacco exported from Daviess County for 
six years previous to 1876. 





From 
Owensboro'. 


Frorn other 
Points. 


Hhds. 


Pounds. 


Product of 1868 


5,000 


500 


5,500 


8,250,000 


„ 1869 


5'500 


500 


6,000 


9,000,000 


„ 1870 


6,500 


500 


7,000 


10,500,000 


» 1871 


6,000 


500 


6,500 


9.750,000 


„ 1872 


7,500 


500 


8,000 


12,000,000 


» » 1873 


9,000 


500 


9,500 


14,250.000 


» 1874* 


3,000 


500 t 


3.500 


5,250,000 


» 1875$ 


8,000 


500 


8,500 


12,750,000 


* A short crop year. 

t Not quite that much, but a 

% Product not yet gone forwa 


fair enouj;h esti 
rd, but will reac 


Tiate. 

1 as much. 




« 



concerning the Hopkinsville market are taken 



Statistics 
from the Annual Circular of Messrs 



J. K. Gaut & Son: — 



425 



62 GENERAL RESOURCES OF WESTERN COAL-FIELD. 

In 1870, there were sold 2,468 hogsheads. 

" 1872, " " " 6,711 
" 1873, " " " 9,155 
» 1874, " " " 13,047 

These sales are up to Nov. i of each year, and include all 
the sorts of tobacco that are sent from the place. 

Statistics of the Henderson market have failed to come to 
hand. 

It must be borne in mind that Louisville and Paducah also 
receive large amounts of tobacco from this region ; * hence the 
foregoing show but a small proportion of the yield. 

The following Table, extracted from a late circular from 
Liverpool, may be of interest, as it shows the number of hogs- 
heads of Virginia and Kentucky tobacco on hand, March i, 
for a series of years : — 



VIRGINIA. 


Leaf. 


Strips. 


KEKTUCKY. 


Leaf. 


Strips. 


1872 


2,402 


1,820 


1872 


8,436 


9,754 


1873 


2,372 


1,363 


1873 


6,449 


4,228 


1874 


3,206 


3,517 


1874 


8,024 


10,817 


1875 


2,706 


4,353 


1875 


9,039 


14,032 


1876 


3,313 


3,824 


1876 


9,204 


7,740 



This table sei*ves as an approximate means of measuring 
the exports from the two States. 



* Much of the Puducah exports, however, are of the tobacco grown west of the 
Tennessee River. 
426 



THE IRON ORES OF KENTUCKY. 



The iron resources of Kentucky are extensive and varied. 
At a few localities a considerable development of them has 
been attained ; but, taking the State as a whole, it has hardly 
reached a fraction of the possibilities of production. The 
greater portion of the ore territory of the State is as yet 
untouched by the pick of the miner; but enough has been 
done in most of the ore districts to learn the quality and some- 
thing of the extent of the ores. 

Geographically the ore districts of the State may be divided 
into the eastern and western. 

Geologically the ores of most importance may be divided 
into three classes, as follows : — 

1. The Clinton ore of the Silurian period. This is the 
equivalent of the Dyestone ore of Tennessee and Virginia. 

2. The unstratined Limonites of the Subcarboniferous Lime- 
stone. 

3. The stratified Carbonates and Limonites of the coal- 
measures. 

There are also ores associated with the Waverly and De- 
vonian Shales in many parts of the State, which have been 
worked to some extent; but they are of minor importance in 
comparison with the other varieties of ore. Of the three 
classes of ore above named the first and the third are found 
in Eastern and the second and third in Western Kentucky. 
It may be said also that the ores of the coal-measures are the 
best developed and of the most importance in Eastern, while 
the unstratified Limonites of the Subcarboniferous Limestone 

are of the greatest value in Western Kentucky. 

427 



64 THE IRON ORES OF KENTUCKY. 

It is also proper to state here that the State has been imper- 
fectly prospected, and that it is altogether possible, and indeed 
probable, that the ores of one or another of these varieties will 
be found to be much more extensive and valuable than at pres- 
ent supposed. 

The Iron Ores of Eastern Kentucky. — The ore districts of 
Eastern Kentucky, where the ores have been manufactured, 
are two, known as the Red River and the Hanging Rock iron 
regions. The Red River iron region embraces portions of 
Estill, Lee, Powell, Menifee, and Bath Counties. 

The ores found in this region are the Clinton ore, and an 
ore, stratified, resting upon the Subcarboniferous Limestone 
at the base of the coal-bearing Shales. It is found both as 
Carbonate, or clay Ironstone, and as Limonite, or Brown 
Hematite. It is this ore which has been most largely worked, 
and upon which the excellent reputation of the iron from this 
region has been made. 

The Clinton ore has not been so extensively worked ; but 
the principal deposit of it is situated geographically near this 
region, and may be said to belong to it. 

The best known deposit of this ore in Kentucky is in 
Bath County, on the waters of Slate Creek, and is known as 
the Slate Furnace Ore -bank. It is a stratified deposit of Oolitic 
Fossiliferous Limonite, capping several hills in the vicinity. 
It reaches a thickness of fifteen feet at places. The area 
covered by the ore at this point is somewhat over forty acres, 
and the total amount of ore about one and a half million tons. 
The ore bears evidence of having been formerly a Hematite, 
similar to the Dyestone ore of the same geological horizon 
along the great valley from New York to Alabama, but it has 
lain so long, unprotected by any thing except a slight covering 
of earth, that it has absorbed water, and been converted into a 
Limonite. 

This deposit seems to be somewhat local, — at least of this 
thickness, — as it gj"ows thin, and finally disappears in this 
neighborhood. The Limestone which bears the ore is, how- 
ever, present in a narrow rim all round the central part of the 
State, and it is probable that, when thorough examination 

is made, other deposits of the ore will be found. 
428 



ORES OF EASTERN KENTUCKY. 65 

The following analysis by Dr. Peter and Mr. Talbutt, of the 
Kentucky Geological Survey, of a sample of ore from this 
deposit, shows the composition of the ore : — 

Iron Peroxide 70.060 

Alumina 4-S40 

Lime Carbonate .040 

Magnesia .021 

Phosphoric Acid 1.620 

Sulphuric Acid .031 

Silica and Insoluble Silicates 1 1-530 

Combined Water 12.300 

100.142 

Metallic Iron 49.042 

Phosphorus 707 

Sulphur .012 

The Dyestone ore, a Fossiliferous Hematite, extends along 
the flank and foot-hills of the Cumberland Mountain in Vir- 
ginia, just across the State line from Kentucky, the crest of 
the mountain forming the line for about forty miles. It lies 
in two or three beds, ranging from six inches to three feet or 
more in thickness, and forms in the aggregate an enormous 
mass of cheaply-obtainable ore. This ore, although situated 
in Virginia, is of the greatest importance to Kentucky, as 
it is destined to be smelted with Kentucky coals, which lie 
on the opposite side of the mountain, and are the only coals 
accessible to the ore, as there is no coal to the south of the 
mountain. 

This ore, although somewhat phosphatic, is easily worked, 
and yields from forty to fifty per cent, of iron. From this ore, 
smelted with stone-coal, iron will probably be made as cheaply 
as in any region of the country. 

The great Pine-Mountain fault, which extends from some 
distance south of the Kentucky line in Tennessee, in a course 
about north thirty degrees east through Kentucky to the Chatte- 
rawah or Big-Sandy River, at many places is of sufficient uplift 
to have brought the rocks of the Clinton or Dyestone group 
above the drainage ; and it is probable that on explorati m the 
ore will be found in Kentucky, It has been found at th - foot 

9 429 



66 THE IRON ORES OF KENTUCKY. 

of the Pine Mountain in Tennessee. In Kentucky the place 
of the ore is usually covered deeply by the talus from the 
overlying rocks, which probably accounts for its not having 
been discovered. Should it be found along the foot of Pine 
Mountain in Kentucky, it will be most favorably situated for 
cheap iron-making, as on the opposite side of the stream, 
which flows at the base of the mountain, there is found excel- 
lent coal in great abundance. 

The Limestone ore of the Red River iron region, from 
which the iron is manufactured which gives to the region its 
reputation, rests upon the Subcarboniferous Limestone, and 
from this association takes its name. It lies in a bed of irreg- 
ular thickness, ranging from a few inches to three feet or more in 
thickness, but probably averaging, where found in any quantity, 
about one foot thick, or a little less. It is occasionally irregu- 
lar and uncertain in its distribution ; but, in general, it may be 
said that it is found in its projDcr position almost wherever the 
Subcarboniferous Limestone is above the drainao;e, alone the 
edge of the coal-measures from the Kentucky to the Ohio 
River. South of the Kentucky River the ore is known to 
extend a short distance, as far as it has been explored ; but its 
lin}it in this direction is as yet unknown. 

The Red River region embraces, however, only that portion 
between the Licking and the Kentucky Rivers. This region 
has been little developed, except in a portion of Estill County, 
where four charcoal-furnaces have been in operation. There 
are many eligible sites for charcoal-furnaces in this region, 
where timber and ore are both in abundance and as yet un- 
touched. The development of this region has been retarded 
by the lack of transportation facilities, as the iron had to be 
hauled a long distance in wagons to railroad or river. This 
difficulty is likely to be remedied in the near future by the 
construction of one or two projected railroads into or along 
the edge of this region, and we can then look for a largely- 
increased production of the excellent iron from this region. 
The iron is of great strength, and ranks very high in the 
markets of the West. It is used principally for car-wheel 
purposes, as it is of very great strength and chills well. 
430 



HANGING ROCK IRON REGION. 67 

The following analyses show the character of the ore of this 



region : — 



Iron Peroxide 

Alumina 

Lime Carbonate .... 

Magnesia 

Phosphoric Acid .... 
Silica and Insoluble Silicates 
Combined Water .... 

Total 

Metallic Iron 

Phosphorus 



No. 



66.329 
12.532 

trace. 

•173 

.709 

9.720 

9.580 



99.043 

46.440 
•309 



No. 2. 



63-535 

2.798 

.450 

1-073 

-537 

20.480 

9.800 



100.673 

45-874 
•234 



No. 3- 



74.127 

3-542 

■390 

.461 

.601 

9.5.S0 

11.270 



99.971 



Si.i 



.262 



No. 4- 



65-591 
5.762 

trace. 
.248 

-447 
16.230 
1 1.060 



99.914 

45.914 
.195 



No. I. From the Richardson Bank, Clear Creek, Bath County. 
No. 2. From Logan Ridge, Estill Furnace, Estill County. 
No. 3. From Thacker Ridge, near Fitchburg, Estill County. 
No. 4. From Horse Ridge, Cottage Furnace, Estill County. 

The above analyses were made by Dr. Peter and Mr. J. H. 
Talbutt, chemists of the Kentucky Geological Survey, from 
samples selected by the writer. 

THE HANGING ROCK IRON REGION. 

The Kentucky division of the Hanging Rock Iron Region 
•at present embraces the whole, or parts, of Greenup, Boyd, 
Carter, and Lawrence Counties. The ores are stratified Car- 
bonates and Limonites, occurring in the lower coal-measures, 
beginning with the ore just described, resting upon the Sub- 
carboniferous Limestone, and extending through six hundred to 
seven hundred feet of the coal-measure strata. The ores are 
mineralogically similar, but differ somewhat in their physical 
character and circumstances of deposition. They are popu- 
larly known as Limestone, Block, and Kidney ores. They 
usually occur at well defined geological levels, but do not 
always form connected beds. They also differ in thickness, 
ranging from four to eight inches in some of the thinner beds 
to fourteen feet in one local deposit. This latter is the Lam- 
bert ore of Carter County. The most common thickness is 

from six inches to one foot. There are from ten to twelve ore 

431 



68 THE IRON ORES OF KENTUCKY. 

beds which are o£ more than local extent in this region. In 
addition there are numerous local beds, one or more of which 
is found at nearly every furnace. This region supports eleven 
charcoal and two stone-coal furnaces. The Hanging Rock 
iron bears a reputation for excellence for general foundry 
purposes, which is unsurpassed by any iron in the United 
States. The iron produced is mostly hot-blast charcoal iron ; 
but some of the furnaces are worked with cold-blast for the 
production of car-wheel iron. The reputation of the iron of 
this region is, however, chiefly founded upon its excellence 
for castings of all sorts. The iron combines in a remarkable 
degree great strength with fluidity in casting, and non-shrink- 
age on cooling. 

The stone-coal iron of this region is used almost entirely 
for the manufacture of bar iron and nails. 

The stone-coal iron is made from the ores of this region 
mixed with a considerable proportion of ore from other States. 
The fuel used is the celebrated Ashland, or Coalton coal. It 
is a dry-burning, non-coking coal, which is used raw in the 
furnace, and is of such excellent quality that no admixture of 
coke with it in the furnaces is necessary, as is the case with 
most of the other non-coking furnace coals of the West. 

The charcoal iron is manufactured exclusively from the 
native ores, which yield, as shown by the books at a number 
of the furnaces, for periods ranging from one to four years, an 
average of between thirty-one and thirty-two per cent, of iron. 
The ores of the region are known as Limestone, Block, and 
Kidney ores. These names are due to peculiarities of struct- 
ure or position, rather than to any essential difference in 
chemical composition. As a rule, however, the Limestone 
ores are the richest and most uniform in quality. The Kidney 
ores are next in value ; while the Block ores present greater 
variations in quality than any other, some of them being 
equal to the best of this region, and some so silicious and 
lean that they cannot be profitably worked. 

The following analyses* by Dr. Peter and Mr. Talbutt, of 

the Kentucky Geological Survey, show the composition of 

some of the ores of each class in this region : — 
432 



ORES OF WESTERN KENTUCKY. 



69 





No. i. 


No. 2. 


No. 3. 


No. 4- 


No. 5- 


No. 6. 


Iron Peroxide. . . 


67.859 


71.680 


54-530 


68.928 


61.344 


66.200 


Alumina .... 


1. 160 


4-155 


2.120 


2.768 


4.236 


3-907 


Mang. Brown Oxide 


.980 


.090 


1.380 


.290 




.030 


Lime Carbonate . . 


.120 


.380 


.040 


.680 


.750 


■430 


Magnesia .... 


1.275 


.050 


1-823 


.641 


.208 


•345 


Phosphoric Acid 


•143 


.084 


.908 


.249 


•795 


.130 


Sulphuric Acid . . 




.270 


■336 


.748 


.041 


.182 


Silica and Insoluble 














Silicates. . . . 


15.560 


12.650 


28.360 


15.240 


21.480 


16.530 


Combined Water 

Total . . . 


*I2.903 


10.800 


10.900 


II. 100 


11.200 


11.730 


100.000 


100.159 


100.397 


100.643 


100.054 


99.484 


Metallic Iron . . . 


47.501 


50.176 


38.171 


48.249 


42.941 


46-340 


Sulphur .... 




.108 


•134 


.298 


.016 


.072 


Phosphorus . . . 


.062 


.036 


.428 


.098 


•347 


.057 






* And lo 


s. 









No. I. Lower Limestone Ore, Kenton Furnace, Greenup County. 

No. 2. Upper Limestone Ore, Graham Bank, near Willard, Carter County. 

No. 3. Lower Block Ore, Kenton Furnace, Greenup County. 

No. 4. Upper or Main Block Ore, Laurel Furnace, Greenup County. 

No. 5. Yellow Kidney Ore, Buena Vista Furnace, Boyd County. 

No. 6. Yellow Kidney Ore, Mount Savage Furnace, Carter County. 



THE IRON ORES OF WESTERN KENTUCKY. 

The most extensive and best developed ore region of 
Western Kentucky is called the Cumberland River iron region. 
It embraces the whole, or parts of, Trigg, Lyon, Livingstone, 
Crittenden, and Caldwell Counties. The ores of this region 
are Limonites found resting in the clay and chert above the 
St. Louis or Subcarboniferous Limestone. They occur in de- 
posits of irregular shape and uncertain extent, but in the 
aeeresate the amount of ore is immense. The ores are 
distributed with great irregularity throughout this region, but 
they seem to be found in greatest abundance and quantity 
where the Limestone has been most extensively worn away, 
and where, as a consequence,^ the clay and chert which are 
the result of its decomposition are of greatest thickness. ^ 

The ores are, perhaps, found in greater abundance in 
the country between the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers 
than in any other portion of this region, although there 



VOL. II. — 28 



433 



70 THE IRON ORES OF KENTUCKY. 

are extensive deposits on the east side of the Cumberland 
River which have been largely worked. As a rule, however, 
the deposits decrease in size and frequency in going from 
the Cumberland River toward the east, and, after a few miles' 
distance from the river is reached, they are scattering and 
small. The ores are of excellent quality, being almost en- 
tirely free from sulphur, and containing but a small amount 
of phosphorus ; but they are sometimes mixed with chert 
and sand. The quality in this respect is as variable as the 
size of the deposits; the ore in the same deposit frequently 
showing all degrees of admixture with chert, from a chert 
breccia, to a rich, pure ore with only an occasional lump of 
chert enclosed. 

The average yield of iron from the ore at the furnaces of 
this region, where it is not very carefully selected previous 
to roasting, is between thirty and thirty-five per cent. With 
careful sorting the ' yield can be brought much higher, from 
forty to fifty per cent. 

The iron produced from these ores is of a very high grade. 
There are three active furnaces in this region which use char- 
coal fuel exclusively for the production of pig-iron. From this 
iron is manufactured the celebrated Hillman's boiler-plate, 
of which it is said, by the manufacturers, that no boiler con- 
structed of this iron has ever exploded. This iron ranks equal, 
or superior, to any other boiler-plate manufactured in the United 
States. It is used largely for steamboat and locomotive boil- 
ers, for which latter purpose it finds an extensive market, even 
as far as the Pacific slope. 

Considerable ore from this region has been shipped to fur- 
naces at a distance ; but within the past two years the depressed 
condition of the iron market has rendered this unprofitable. 
This region is well situated as regards transportation facilities, 
— it being drained by the two navigable rivers, the Cumber- 
land and Tennessee, and on the lower border by the Ohio, so 
that the iron manufactured here can be very cheaply placed 
in market. 

The following analyses of two samples of ore from the 
Suwannee furnace-lands, Lyon County, will show the charac- 

434 



ORES OF WESTERN KENTUCKY. 



71 



ter of the ore from this region. The analyses are by Dr. Peter 
and Mr. Talbutt of the Kentucky Geological Survey: — 



Iron Peroxide 

Alumina 

Manganese 

Lime Carbonate 

Magnesia 

Piiosphoric Acid .... 

Sulphur 

Silica and Insoluble Silicates 
Combined Water .... 

Total 

Metallic Iron 

Phosphorus 



No. I. 



59-370 

1.622 

.090 

.170 

.100 

.179 

.212 

30.000 
8.400 



100.053 

41-559 
.077 



No. 2. 



70.518 
.045 
.190 
.090 

trace. 
.275 
.045 

18.910 
9.850 



99.923 

49-363 
.120 



This same variety of ore is found, in greater or less quantity, 
in many other counties where the St. Louis Limestone is the 
prevailing rock formation, but in none of them, save those 
mentioned, has any extensive iron industry been established. 
In the Cumberland-River iron region there are many furnace- 
sites unoccupied where iron can be cheaply and profitably 
manufactured. 

This region is capable of, and destined to, a much greater 
development than it has yet attained. The charcoal-iron man- 
ufacture will always be an important and extensive industry, 
for over a large part of the region the most profitable use that 
can be made of the land is the production of timber for char- 
coal. There is destined at no far-distant day to be a large stone- 
coal or coke iron industry established here, using the ores of 
this region with the coals of the Western Kentucky coal-field, 
either raw or coked. The best known of the Western coals at 
present are too sulphurous for use in iron-making, without 
previous separation from sulphur by washing and coking. It 
is through the introduction of modern machinery and ovens, 
by which- these operations can be cheaply and thoroughly 
effected, and a coke fit for iron-smelting produced, that the 
coal and iron ore of Western Kentucky will be most profitably 
and extensively developed. The Louisville, Paducah, and 

435 



72 THE IRON ORES OF KENTUCKY. 

South-western Railroad affords direct communication between 
the coal and ore fields. Already measures are in progress for 
the erection of extensive coke-works on the line of this railroad, 
which will doubtless prove but the first step in the successful 
development of a different form and more extensive iron in- 
dustry than any yet established in Western Kentucky. 

THE NOLIN-RIVER DISTRICT. 

In Edmonson and Grayson Counties, north of Green River, 
between Nolin River and Bear Creek, is an area of considera- 
ble size called the Nolin-River District. The ores of this 
region are stratified Carbonates and Limonites, found near the 
base of the coal-measures. The ore of most value occurs 
above the Conglomerate. It is about four feet thick, and, so 
far as present developments indicate, underlies an area of large 
extent. It is almost wholly undeveloped. A number of years 
since a small charcoal furnace was established on Nolin River, 
but it was so far from market, and transportation of the iron 
was so uncertain and expensive, that the enterprise soon failed. 
It ran long enough, however, to establish the fact that an 
excellent iron could be made from these ores. 

The following analyses, by Dr. Peter and Mr. Talbutt, show 
the quality of a sample of this ore from near the head of Beaver- 
Dam Creek in Ednionson County: — 

Iron Peroxide 52.926 

Alumina 4-792 

Manganese .210 

Lime Carbonate 180 

Magnesia .425 

Phosphoric Acid 355 

Sulphuric Acid .143 

Silica and Insoluble Silicates 30.580 

Combined water 10.400 



Total 1 00.0 



II 



Metallic Iron 37-048 

Phosphorus .154 

Sulphur . .057 

436 



NOUN-RIVER DISTRICT. 73 

In addition to the great amount of timber available for 
charcoal, stone-coal in abundance occurs in the same region. 
This coal is the lowest of the series, and is of most excellent 
quality, — analyses showing it to be far superior to the higher 
coals of Western Kentucky, which are the ones more generally 
mined. This region is now more accessible than formerly 
as it lies within fifteen miles of the Louisville, Paducah, and 
South-western Railroad ; but the lack of transportation facili- 
ties directly to it has prevented its development. The aggre- 
gate amount of ore, coal, and timber suitable for charcoal in 
this region, is immense, and it offers great opportunities for 
development. It is one of the most richly endowed undevel- 
oped iron regions of the State. 

In many other localities in the Western coal-field iron ores 
have been found, but they have not been thoroughly pro- 
spected, and little is known of their extent. One of the best- 
known localities of this sort is in Muhlenburg County. In 
this county are found, at Airdrie Furnace, on Green River, 
and at Buckner Furnace, near Greenville, deposits of so-called 
black-band iron ore, — a ferruginous bituminous Shale, yielding 
about thirty per cent, of iron. At Airdrie Furnace this ore 
rests immediately above an excellent coking coal, and the two 
can be mined together very cheaply. At this place iron can 
be produced very cheaply by bringing ore from the Cumber- 
land-River region, and using it in admixture with the native 
ore. For a more detailed description of this locality, see 
Report in the second volume, new series, " Kentucky Geologi- 
cal Reports, on the Airdrie Furnace." 

The above described localities embrace all the most impor- 
tant iron-ore districts of the State. There are numerous ore 
deposits at other places, some of which have been worked, but, 
in comparison with the others, to a small extent only. 

For more detailed information in regard to some of these 
districts, the reader is referred to the volumes, first series, 
" Kentucky Geological Reports;" to the " Report on the Iron 
Ores of Greenup, Boyd, and Carter Counties," in the first 
volume, second series ; to the " Report on the Geology of the 

lo 437 



74 THE IRON ORES OF KENTUCKY. 

Nolin-River District," in the second volume, second series; 
to the forthcoming reports on the iron ores in the vicinity of 
Cumberland Gap, and on the iron ores of the Red-River iron 
region, in the fourth volume, second series, " Kentucky Geo- 
logical Reports." 
438 



PROFILE VIEW OF KENTUCKY— ITS RESOURCES. 

AN INVITING FIELD TO IMMIGRANTS AND CAPITALISTS. 

BY C. E. BOWMAN, FRANKFORT, KY. 

The State of Kentucky lies between 36° t,o' and 39° 6' 
north latitude, and longitude 5° and 12° 38' west from Wash- 
ington City. In its extreme length it reaches from West 
Virginia in the east to Tennessee and Missouri on its south- 
west and western border. The State of Tennessee lies south 
of it, and the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois north and 
northwest of it. Its position may be therefore called central 
in the great Mississippi and Ohio valleys. 

Kentucky embraces an area of about forty thousand square 
miles. Except where broken by its mountain ranges, it may 
be called a plain, but sufficiently undulating to have perfect 
drainage. Its elevation above the sea-level and its drainage 
secure it from all malarias, and give to it a pure, bracino-, and 
healthful atmosphere. There is no State in the Union that is 
better supplied with springs of pure water. It has a water 
frontage on the Ohio and Mississippi of six huudred and fifty 
miles. Its interior water-ways are greater than those of any 
other State within the great valleys of which it is a part. 
They consist of the Tennessee, Cumberland, Green, Barren, 
Licking, Kentucky, and Big Sandy rivers, all of which may 
be properly classed as navigable rivers, and all of which are, 
or can be made, permanently so by the expenditure of a little 
money. Besides, there are several other streams that can 
easily be made navigable by locking and damming There is 
not one of her interior navigable streams that does not run 
through sections of the State exhaustlessly rich in mineral 
and timber resources. The Kentucky river from its impor- 
tance has arrested the attention of Congress, and has to-day 
standing to its credit an appropriation of $100,000, to be 



']6 KENTUCKY — ITS RESOURCES. 

applied to the repairs of its locks and 'dams, and in aid of the 
construction of others. It is capable of being made perma- 
nently navigable, by a moderate outlay of money, through a 
section of the State that is marvelous for its rich deposits of 
iron ores and its beds of cannel and bituminous coals, to say 
nothing of the magnificent forests that lie on its head waters, 
and annually, for a quarter of a century, have supplied the 
numerous saw-mills that dot its banks. Her other navigable 
rivers, quite as rich in resources, doubtless will soon arrest 
the national eye, and appropriations must follow in aid of their 
navigation as part of a system of improvements of the water- 
ways of the great and growing South and West. The voices 
of the conventions recently held, and shortly to be held, in 
reference to the improvement of the Mississippi and its navi- 
gable tributaries, are too loud and potent not to be heard and 
heeded by the National Congress. The Ohio and Mississippi 
valleys are the granaries of the world. The inexorable neces- 
sities of commerce, and the cry of the hungry from Great 
Britain and Continental Europe, demand that there shall be 
cheap transportation for the wheat and corn that, year by 
year, grow in the vast area drained by the Father of Waters 
and its tributaries. 

The products of the State are of a variety to suit almost 
every taste. Her staples are Indian corn, wheat, rye, barley, 
tobacco, oats, and hemp. All of these grow to perfection in 
every part of the State, with the exception of hemp, which is 
confined to the Blue-grass section. 

The mineral resources of the State consist chiefly in her 
iron deposits and coal-fields, which lie mostly in the eastern, 
southeastern, and southwestern parts of the State, and which, 
when fully developed by railroads and river improvements by 
which they can be made^ easily accessible, will be sources of 
wealth to the State for a thousand years to come. The fol- 
lowing comparative exhibit will show the extent and richness 
of her coal-fields, most of which are workable without shaft- 



KENTUCKY — ITS RESOURCES. 



n 



ing, and from outcroppings on the side hills : Area of Ken- 
tucky coal-fields, 12,771 square miles; Pennsylvania, 12,630; 
England, 6,039; Great Britain, entire, 11,859; so that her 
coal-fields exceed those of Great Britain by 912 square miles. 

In no section of the world does live stock of every descrip- 
tion grow to such perfection as in Kentucky. In horses, 
cattle, sheep, and hogs Kentucky may be called the breeding 
farm, not only of the United States, but of Great Britain. 
Many of Kentucky's best bloods yearly find their way across 
the ocean to improve the studs and herds of Great Britain. 
The superiority of Kentucky live stock is not wholly attributa- 
ble to careful breeding, but, in a large degree, to her healthful 
climate, pure water, and the quality of her grasses and grains, 
on which they are fed, t/iat partaJze to so large a degree of the 
elements of the soil that p?'odnce them. 

As to the relative productiveness of Kentucky as compared 
with other States of greatly larger cultivatable area, the fol- 
lowing brief statement, taken from the United States Census 
Report, is conclusive. It embraces four decades, and the 
next census will make patent the same facts. It will be ob- 
served that in each census it is the first State in some one or 
more staple articles : 



Products 


1840. 


1850. 


i860. 


1870. 


Wheat 


First. 
Second. 


Ninth. 

Second. 

Second. 

First 

Second. 

First. 

First. 


Ninth. 

Fourth. 

Second. 

Second. 
Third. 
Fifth. 
First. 

Second. 


Eighth. 
Fifth. 




Mules 




Third. 




Sixth. 




Second. 


First.* 


Flax 


Third. 
Fourth. 

Eleventh. 
Third. 


Eighth. 
Fifth. 


Rve 




First. 




Twelfth. 


Value of home manufactures . . . 


Third 



* Tn 1870 Kentucky produced near one half of all the tobacco produced in the United 
States, and more than half of all the hemp. The production of tobacco increase(J from 
105,305,869 pounds in 1870 to 158,184,929 pounds in 1873. 

The foregoing statement leaves out of view her grasses 
that give to her a reputation above all other localities within 



j8 KENTUCKY — ITS RESOURCES. 

or without the United States. Certainly the world furnishes 
no duplicate of the Blue-grass section of Kentucky. 

It leaves out of view also the annual product of millions of 
gallons of Bourbon whisky which is annually produced in 
Kentucky, and can only be produced in Kentucky, because 
not diily the grain that grows on her soil but the water that 
runs out of the earth are both essential in its distillation. 
This product is not only daily shipped to San Francisco and 
to every principal city in the United States, but to Great 
Britian, France, and Germany. Kaiser William's Premier is 
never so bright and so happy as when he has taken his glass 
of Kentucky corn brandy. 

Her railways, completed and uncompleted, penetrate almost 
every part of the State, with others mapped out and projected 
that must shortly be built to satisfy the demands of her com- 
merce and to develop her iron and coal interests. 

Her State government is out of debt, and taxation is low. 
In this, as in her unlimited resources and capabilities, she 
stands alone. While the last assessments are forty cents to 
$ioo, in Virginia they are $2.50 to $100 worth of property. 

She has a common school system that draws annually from 
her Treasury ^1,000,000 in its support, and her schools of 
higher grades in literature, divinity, medicine, and law are 
scattered throughout the State, and year by year her prin- 
cipal towns are establishing graded high schools. 

The dawn of a new and brighter day is in the near future 
for Kentucky. The time and the circumstances are at hand 
that will date an epoch of progress in her history and mark an 
era of prosperity for her undreamed of before. 

The great north and south road from Cincinnati to Chat- 
tanooga when this comes under the reader's eye will have 
been completed. For half of its way it runs through rich 
coal-fields and heavily-timbered forests, and through moun- 
tains of iron ores. The gap is being filled up between Mt. 
Sterling and Huntington, thus completing another great rail- 



KENTUCKY — ITS RESOURCES. 79 

way which, when completed, will traverse the very heart ol 
Kentucky, and reaching- from our metropolitan city to the 
nearest practicable point on the Atlantic seaboard. It runs 
through and will open up the rich mineral resources of East- 
ern Kentucky. 

Self-interest and self-protection will compel the Louisville 
and Nashville Railroad at an early day to extend its Knoxville 
Branch through Cumberland Gap to southern connections. 

At the same time the interest now developing in the Soutli 
and the West with regard to the Mississippi and its tribu- 
taries is rising" to such commanding magnitude that it must 
be heeded. It is with no prophetic ken that we announce 
that the day is not far ahead when schooners will be loaded at 
St. Louis and Cairo direct for Europe. 

When these great railways are completed, when all of her 
water-ways are made available and navigable, regarding her 
climate, her soils, her agricultural products, her timbers and 
exhaustless mineral resources, what country is more inviting 
or can offer more tempting inducements to the immigrant who 
is seeking a permanent home, or to capital that is seeking" 
remunerative investment? 

With all this her lands are cheap, and her hospitable 
climate and hospitable people invite the immigrant, of what- 
ever nationality, to come and be one of her people, and capi- 
talists, from whatever quarter, to invest and help develop and 
reap the rich rewards of her resources. 



